{"id":397437,"date":"2026-01-09T02:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/397437\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T02:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:58:07","slug":"gm-to-take-6-billion-writedown-on-ev-pullback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/397437\/","title":{"rendered":"GM to take $6 billion writedown on EV pullback"},"content":{"rendered":"

GM’s $6 billion charge linked to EV investment reductionMost of the writedown tied to supplier payouts for canceled workGM is latest automaker to walk back EV plans after federal policy changesDETROIT, Jan 8 (Reuters) – General Motors (GM.N), opens new tab<\/a> said on Thursday it would take a $6 billion charge to unwind some electric-vehicle investments, the latest car company to pull back from EVs in response to the Trump administration’s policies and fading demand.The charge stems from reducing its planned EV production and the fallout on the supply chain, GM said in a regulatory filing, and comes weeks after rival Ford Motor (F.N), opens new tab<\/a> announced a similar but much bigger charge.<\/p>\n

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Most of GM’s writedown – a $4.2 billion cash charge – is related to contract cancellations and settlements with suppliers, who had planned for much higher production volumes before the market turned.<\/p>\n

GM said the writedown would not affect its U.S. lineup of roughly a dozen EV models, which is the industry\u2019s broadest offering of battery-powered vehicles. \u201cWe plan to continue to make these models available to consumers,\u201d it said in its filing.<\/p>\n

The company will record the charge as a special item in its fourth-quarter earnings report. It expects to incur additional charges in 2026 as a result of negotiations with its supply base, but expects them to be less than its 2025 EV charges.<\/p>\n

Shares fell 2% in after-hours trading. They ended the regular session on Thursday up 3.9% at $85.13.<\/p>\n

GM PLACED A BIG BET ON EVs<\/p>\n

Many automakers, including GM\u2019s crosstown rival, Ford, have been dialing back factory work on EVs since last summer, when U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s massive tax and spending package darkened the outlook for the EV market. Sales of battery-powered vehicles have cratered following the elimination on September 30 of a $7,500 federal tax credit<\/a> for EV buyers.Deliveries of GM’s electric vehicles dipped after the end of federal tax credits.Ford in December said it would take a $19.5 billion writedown<\/a> over several quarters as it canceled several EV programs, including the fully electric version of its F-150 Lightning truck and an additional electric truck and van.<\/p>\n

GM, the largest U.S. automaker by sales, made one of the biggest bets on EVs among global automakers, at one point vowing to essentially phase out internal-combustion cars and trucks by 2035.<\/p>\n

While the company has not publicly walked back the 2035 goal, analysts have sharply cut the industry\u2019s EV sales forecast into the next decade for the U.S., GM\u2019s largest and most profitable market. GM CEO Mary Barra has said the company will respond to customer demand.<\/p>\n

GM\u2019s EV sales had started gaining traction in late 2024 after years of manufacturing setbacks. The company rolled out more lower-cost offerings, helping it reach No. 2 in sales behind Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The company also said on Thursday that it would record a $1.1 billion charge in the fourth quarter related to its ongoing restructuring of its China joint venture.<\/p>\n

The automaker began writing down some EV-related investments last year, including a $1.6 billion third-quarter charge<\/a>. This month, GM halted production of EV batteries at two joint-venture plants for six months and cut production to one shift at an EV-only factory in Detroit.The company also pivoted away from plans for another Michigan factory<\/a> that was slated to build EVs, and instead will build the Cadillac Escalade and full-size pickups, it has said.<\/p>\n

GM gained U.S. market share in 2025 on the strength of its gas-powered large pickups and SUVs, and its EVs, but some analysts have questioned the automaker’s decision to focus on fully electric vehicles instead of hybrids.<\/p>\n

“GM\u2019s lack of hybrid exposure could partially reverse recent market share gains,” CFRA equity analyst Garrett Nelson said in a research note on Thursday, citing the surging popularity of hybrid vehicles.<\/p>\n

EV SALES ARE DOWN INDUSTRYWIDE<\/p>\n

GM\u2019s EV sales dropped 43% in the fourth quarter after the loss of the consumer tax credit. Sales hit record highs in the previous three months, when customers rushed to buy EVs before the credit ended.<\/p>\n

EV sales across the industry increased 1.2% in 2025 from the previous year, according to research firm Omdia, a much slower growth rate than previous years.<\/p>\n

Automotive data provider Edmunds expects EVs to account for about 6% of overall U.S. vehicle sales in 2026, down from 7.4% in 2025.<\/p>\n

Ford\u2019s shift, in which it essentially killed off its entire planned second generation of EVs, resulted in a much higher charge. Ford CEO Jim Farley said it was a painful but necessary move as the market cooled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the market really changed over the last couple of months, that was really the impetus for us to make the call,\u201d Farley told Reuters in a December interview.<\/p>\n

Ford is now setting its EV hopes on a brand-new architecture that will enable the production of affordable models, starting with a $30,000 electric pickup in 2027.<\/p>\n

Reporting by Kalea Hall and Nora Eckert in Detroit; Additional reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Mike Colias and Matthew Lewis<\/p>\n

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab<\/a><\/p>\n

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Kalea Hall reports on the automotive industry, focusing on the Detroit Three automakers, from Detroit. Kalea was previously an automotive reporter at The Detroit News daily newspaper where she covered the auto industry and General Motors for more than five years. She\u2019s been a professional reporter since 2013, when she started at The Vindicator, a daily newspaper in Youngstown, Ohio and her hometown paper.
\nGrowing up in an auto plant town inspired Kalea to deeply understand the industry, and helped her report award-winning stories for The Vindicator. At The Detroit News, she worked collaboratively with a team to break news and write comprehensive pieces.
\nKalea has a bachelor\u2019s degree in journalism from Point Park University in Pittsburgh and a master\u2019s degree in journalism from Michigan State University.<\/p>\n

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Nora Eckert reports on the automotive industry from Detroit. She covers Ford, GM, Stellantis and the United Auto Workers, with a focus on the industry’s transition to EVs. She was previously a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in Detroit, where she broke news on major automakers and the UAW. She was earlier part of a WSJ investigations team that was recognized as a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize. Nora began her career as an investigative reporter with the Rochester Post Bulletin in Minnesota, where she focused on the state’s organ transplant system and prisons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GM’s $6 billion charge linked to EV investment reductionMost of the writedown tied to supplier payouts for canceled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[159358,167052,9680,160617,57174,45,49,48,167053,167973,159340,159341,159365,159366,159367,167974,167054,77562,44041,160552,160242,159360,159348,159372,159350,160560,167969,167970,167049,167971,167046,167967,167975,167976,35881,160211,160220,159938,167972,167051,167968,160219,182],"class_list":["post-397437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-amers","tag-aut","tag-auto","tag-bact","tag-biz","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carm","tag-carm1","tag-cmpny","tag-cycs","tag-destocabsm","tag-destousbsm","tag-destoustpm","tag-ehveh","tag-eleav","tag-gen","tag-hot","tag-mtgfx","tag-mtpix","tag-namer","tag-news1","tag-packageus-top-news","tag-publ","tag-pxp","tag-ratiadas-av-safety","tag-ratielectric-battery","tag-ratielectrification-zero-emmision","tag-ratifinancial-results","tag-ratisustainable-ev-supply-chain","tag-repitechnology","tag-res","tag-resf","tag-sci","tag-stx","tag-topcmb","tag-topicenergy-transition","tag-topicrati-strategy","tag-topicrati-supply-chain-manufacturing","tag-topicrati-technology","tag-topnws","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}