The major automakers and their suppliers have invested heavily in the transition to electric cars in recent years, but investment in manufacturing capacity and technology appears to have outpaced demand.
As sales of electric cars slow down globally, the pressure on car manufacturers to cut costs also increases.
The American giant General Motors stated a few years ago that it was fully committed to electrification, but has now cut back on its production targets for electric cars due to declining demand.
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– It is true, the pace of electric car growth has slowed down, which has created uncertainty. We will build for demand, said Mary BarraCEO of General Motors, when presenting the quarterly report for the fourth quarter of 2023.
Instead, according to the CEO, they must increasingly rely on plug-in hybrids in the US to meet their emissions targets.
However, the group wants to clarify that it is not abandoning electric cars completely, and according to Mary Barra, it is still set on eliminating the emissions from the vehicles it classifies as “light-duty” by 2035.
Barra has also said she is “encouraged” by industry forecasts that predict sales of electric cars will rise by at least 10 percent through 2024, according to Reuters.
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Others are also pulling on the brakes
GM is not the only major automaker to scale back its forecasts for the electric car market.
Among other things, Ford has let off the gas for its electric car investment after demand did not increase as quickly as expected.
Even Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has expressed pessimism about the electric car market in the near future, and has warned of sharply declining sales growth in 2024. This caused the price of the Tesla share to fall significantly.
The Tesla CEO also warned of the competition that could come from Chinese electric car manufacturers, which are increasingly pushing to enter the American and European markets.
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