Photo: GMC
GM's Ultium electric vehicle sales finally picked up some steam in the third quarter, as the Detroit carmaker reported one of its best quarters in history. Electric vehicles were the crown's jewel, with Mary Barra gleefully reporting increases across the board. Still, Chevy Bolt remains GM's most-sold EV, while sales of other EVs, although impressive, raise many questions.
GM CEO Mary Barra used to brag about surpassing Tesla every time she got the chance while at the same time being contradicted by her company's sales numbers. For the past quarters, sales of its Ultium EVs have been dwindling, supposedly because GM had problems ramping up production to quench demand. Barra got away with it thanks to impressive ICE vehicle sales and the good sales performance of the Chevrolet Bolt.
The GMC Hummer EV sales probably stick like a sore thumb in this picture. On the one hand, the electric mammoth pickup sold in very small numbers: just two in the first quarter and 47 in the second quarter. On the other, the sales graphic rises vertically, buoyed by the 1,167 trucks sold in the third quarter. Is this a stellar performance? I'd argue it's not, considering how much demand GM claims it's got for the Hummer EV.
And yet, Mary Barra clings to it to demonstrate that the EV revolution is in full swing at GM. She has a case, though, as the Chevy Bolt continues to surprise, with a 125% increase year-to-date. The Cadillac Lyriq, the second model built on the Ultium platform alongside the GMC Hummer EV, sold 3,018 units in the quarter, up from the 1,348 units sold in the second quarter or the 22 units sold in Q3 2022. Chevrolet also delivered the first units of the Blazer EV (19 units) and Silverado EV (18 units).
Still, the picture is not as rosy as Mary Barra wants us to see. Of 674,336 vehicles delivered in the third quarter, 442,586 are still on dealer lots or in transit to dealers. That doesn't sound that good and reveals the weakness of the dealer system. Even though these vehicles struggle to find a buyer, they are sold to a dealer from GM's perspective (and its sales reports). It's their problem now. But the way dealers deal with this is strange.
Despite GM reporting 1,167 GMC Hummer EVs sold in the third quarter, many still lie on dealer lots, waiting for a buyer. A quick search on CarEdge reveals that 976 brand-new GMC Hummer EVs are available at dealerships. If you filter out the vehicles still in transit, 651 units are still waiting for a buyer. If you want to find out why, just look at the prices. Many are listed at more than $150,000, sometimes even $200,000. This means the dealer markups on these units are outrageous, in some cases as high as $100,000.
Of course, not all of them were reported as sold in the third quarter. CarEdge also mentions how long they've been on the market, so we used this filter. Remarkably, 849 of them have been on the market for between 7 and 97 days, which means they were likely delivered from July through September. This sounds like almost the entire third-quarter production is still waiting for a buyer. The question is, for how long is this sustainable, both from GM's perspective and its dealers'?
The GMC Hummer EV sales probably stick like a sore thumb in this picture. On the one hand, the electric mammoth pickup sold in very small numbers: just two in the first quarter and 47 in the second quarter. On the other, the sales graphic rises vertically, buoyed by the 1,167 trucks sold in the third quarter. Is this a stellar performance? I'd argue it's not, considering how much demand GM claims it's got for the Hummer EV.
And yet, Mary Barra clings to it to demonstrate that the EV revolution is in full swing at GM. She has a case, though, as the Chevy Bolt continues to surprise, with a 125% increase year-to-date. The Cadillac Lyriq, the second model built on the Ultium platform alongside the GMC Hummer EV, sold 3,018 units in the quarter, up from the 1,348 units sold in the second quarter or the 22 units sold in Q3 2022. Chevrolet also delivered the first units of the Blazer EV (19 units) and Silverado EV (18 units).
Still, the picture is not as rosy as Mary Barra wants us to see. Of 674,336 vehicles delivered in the third quarter, 442,586 are still on dealer lots or in transit to dealers. That doesn't sound that good and reveals the weakness of the dealer system. Even though these vehicles struggle to find a buyer, they are sold to a dealer from GM's perspective (and its sales reports). It's their problem now. But the way dealers deal with this is strange.
Despite GM reporting 1,167 GMC Hummer EVs sold in the third quarter, many still lie on dealer lots, waiting for a buyer. A quick search on CarEdge reveals that 976 brand-new GMC Hummer EVs are available at dealerships. If you filter out the vehicles still in transit, 651 units are still waiting for a buyer. If you want to find out why, just look at the prices. Many are listed at more than $150,000, sometimes even $200,000. This means the dealer markups on these units are outrageous, in some cases as high as $100,000.
Of course, not all of them were reported as sold in the third quarter. CarEdge also mentions how long they've been on the market, so we used this filter. Remarkably, 849 of them have been on the market for between 7 and 97 days, which means they were likely delivered from July through September. This sounds like almost the entire third-quarter production is still waiting for a buyer. The question is, for how long is this sustainable, both from GM's perspective and its dealers'?
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