A GMC pickup truck is displayed for sale on lot at a General Motors dealership January 05, 2023 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
General Motors said Monday its U.S. first-quarter sales rose 18% year over year to just over 600,000 vehicles delivered as the company continued its recovery from supply chain issues that curbed global auto production in 2021 and early 2022.
“We gained significant market share in the first quarter, pricing was strong, inventories are in very good shape and we sold more than 20,000 electric vehicles in a quarter for the first time,” Steve Carlisle, chief of GM North America, said in a Explanation.
Most of those EVs were Chevrolet Bolts, but GM sold 968 examples of its all-new Cadillac Lyriq EVs, which are based on the company’s next-generation Ultium EV architecture. GM has been working to ramp up production of its Ultium-based electric vehicles, with volume new Ultium-based models, including a Chevrolet Equinox electric crossover, due later in 2023.
GM confirmed Monday that it expects to sell 50,000 electric vehicles in the first half of 2023 and “double that” in the second half as production of Lyriq ramps up and deliveries of the electric version of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup later this spring begins .
GM is also ramping up production of its BrightDrop Zevo 600, an electric van, and truck rental giant Ryder System has agreed to buy 4,000 of the vans by 2025.
The company’s EV sales are expected to surge from there in 2024 and 2025.
Meanwhile, the internal combustion engine products that pay the bills — GM’s pickups and large SUVs — continue to sell well. Sales of the Silverado internal combustion engine and GMC Sierra full-size pickups were up a combined 9% year over year, helped by a 38% increase in sales to commercial fleets — a market long dominated by GM’s archrival Detroit . Ford engine.
Ford is expected to report its U.S. first-quarter sales on Tuesday.
As analysts grew concerned about high vehicle prices, GM noted that new versions of its affordable Chevrolet Trax and Trailblazer and Buick Encore crossovers will hit dealerships over the next few months. All three will have starting prices under $30,000, GM said.
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