(New York) General Motors (GM) posted solid results in 2020 thanks to a rebound in vehicle sales at the end of the year and was optimistic for 2021 despite the shortage of semiconductors shaking the automotive sector .
Posted on February 10, 2021 at 8:01 am
Updated at 9:52 a.m.
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The chip deficiency that affects all major global manufacturers has indeed forced GM to suspend production in three factories for at least a month and to slow down in a factory in South Korea.
This setback is expected to cost owners of the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC brands between $ 1.5 billion and $ 2 billion.
But the number one automobile in the United States in terms of sales still expects an operating profit of between 10 and 11 billion dollars for the whole year, against 9.7 billion in 2020.
“We work day to day not only with our direct suppliers”, but also with the entire chain of suppliers to assess the situation as well as possible, assured the boss of the group Mary Barra during a teleconference with journalists.
Production is scheduled by the minute in the auto industry and the industry did not necessarily expect demand to rebound so strongly after a sharp slowdown in the first half of the year.
The only problem: electronic chips, which have invaded cars in recent years, are also in high demand for products whose demand has exploded with the pandemic, such as computers.
“We are still at the beginning” of the crisis and “everything is still moving”, noted Mme Barra. She expects the issue to be resolved by the end of the year, but “it’s still a little early to say exactly when,” she said.
As it stands, the shortage is not expected to affect the annual production of flatbed pickup trucks (pickup truck) and city 4x4s (SUVs), its most profitable and popular vehicles.
Competitor Ford cannot say the same: it warned last week that the chip shortage was affecting the manufacture of its lucrative F-150 pickup truck and would tax its accounts by around $ 1 billion to $ 2.5 billion. dollars over the year.
Electric lens
GM’s forecast for 2021, however, disappointed the markets a bit: the group expects adjusted earnings per share and excluding exceptional items of between $ 4.50 and $ 5.25, where sector specialists forecast $ 5.89.
Mary Barra in any case repeated that these difficulties absolutely do not call into question GM’s commitment to the development of new electric vehicles: the manufacturer plans to offer 30 models in 2025 and has set itself the goal of no longer build cars with polluting emissions by 2035.
The group plans to spend between $ 9 billion and $ 10 billion on new projects in 2021, including $ 7 billion for electric and autonomous vehicles.
In the fourth quarter, GM saw its sales increase 22% to 37.52 billion dollars, more than the 36.12 billion expected.
Its net profit reached 2.8 billion dollars, where the group had lost 194 million last year at the same time due in particular to a major strike movement.
For the year as a whole, sales fell 11% to $ 122.48 billion.
The group’s car sales came to a halt in the spring, when the spread of COVID-19 led to the temporary closure of factories and many dealerships.
But demand from individuals began to pick up in May, as many urbanites sought to avoid public transport and be able to escape the city on weekends. Consequence: sales returned to their pre-pandemic level in the fourth quarter.
GM’s net profit contracted somewhat in 2020, 4% to $ 6.4 billion.
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