GM’s Mark Reuss: ICE Is Powering EV Growth

TRAVERSE CITY, MI – General Motors, like every other U.S. automaker but Tesla, is losing money on every battery-electric vehicle it sells, and current margins are substantially negative. But GM expects that as its SUV and crossover BEVs gain awareness in the market, it could start making money on the vehicles by the end of 2025.

It’s a slog through the transformation to electrification, but GM President Mark Reuss, speaking at the Center for Auto Research’s Management Briefing Seminars here, is enthusiastic about GM’s electric future.

“The mass market has been largely left out of the EV market so far, but vehicles like the new Chevy Equinox EV, which I drove all winter, are priced in the heart of the market of what people want. We’ve got to offer people what they want in a car,” whether it is an internal-combustion-engine model or EV says Reuss.

GM has had delays with its BEV launches, but now has the Equinox and Blazer EVs, as well as the Cadillac Lyriq and the new Chevy Silverado EV shipping to dealers. The company reported record profits last year, driven by sales of ICE vehicles, especially trucks and SUVs. “We know how to make cars and trucks, but we’ve had to learn how make cells (for GM’s EVs), and that is a lot tougher,” Reuss admits.

Meanwhile, the company is also launching new ICE vehicles and even has a new V-8 engine. “We’ve got to keep investing in ICE vehicles to help fund the investments in electrification,” says Reuss, who mentioned the Buick Envista as a big winner for GM since it launched in 2023. The ICE-only Envista is priced below $30,000. “Young people are really liking it.”

GM, unlike Ford, has not reorganized the company with an ICE side and an EV side. That makes following GM’s finances regarding EVs more challenging and perhaps more difficult for investors to value. But the GM president, who is the son of former GM President Lloyd Reuss and has spent his entire career at GM, says he prefers the cultural dynamic of blending ICE vehicle teams and engineers with EV teams and engineers. “If you are working on ICE vehicles at GM, we tell our people, ‘You are holding the keys to unlock the door of the future of EVs.’”

GM's BEV losses narrowed from $3.3 billion in 2022 to $2.5 billion in 2023. The company believes it will start making money on BEVs in 2025 as higher-margin models arrive and battery prices come down as expected. It also posted record profits of more than $14 billion in 2022 and a healthy $12.4 billion last year, driven by sales of high-margin ICE trucks and SUVs.

GM, like other U.S. automakers, has an eye on Chinese EV makers looking to sell in the U.S., especially BYD, which has already begun selling in Mexico and plans to expand into Canada. So far, the U.S. government seems intent on using trade policy and legislation to keep Chinese automakers out while U.S. companies further develop a supply chain that is much less dependent on China for battery cells and rare earth metals.

There are critics of U.S. protectionist policy, but Reuss says strengthening the U.S. auto industry is an element of national security.

“I take a lot of pride in the country and what we have done, and do, to make this country. We are in this to win. At the end of the day, GM is a very American company and we have got to win globally for our country and our national security, and that means having a supply base, operations and products that lead the world,” says Reuss.