GM CEO Mary Barra has two honest, but unconvincing points about Tesla and electric cars. The first one is that the GM CEO says Tesla has the lead in electric cars. This is honest and easily convincing. But in her second word Barra says she doesn’t see profitable electric cars in the $30,000 to $40,000 range until the end of the decade or “maybe even later.”
At a Sanford Bernstein conference, Barra shared her insights on the current electric vehicle (EV) market, expressing that while Tesla currently holds the lead in terms of EV technology, profitability, and scale, she believes that this lead is not permanent. She also discussed the issue of EV profitability, specifically highlighting the high costs of EV batteries as a significant obstacle in building profitable mass-market vehicles priced between $30,000 and $40,000.
However, Barra optimistically predicted that the costs of EVs and combustion vehicles would eventually equalize, anticipating this to occur "sometime in the latter part of this decade… maybe a little longer."
Do you agree with Barra's points on when electric vehicles will become profitable at $30-40K price point for carmakers?
Armen Hareyan is the founder and the Editor in Chief of Torque News. He founded TorqueNews.com in 2010, which since then has been publishing expert news and analysis about the automotive industry. He can be reached at Torque News Twitter, Facebok, Linkedin and Youtube.
