GM's Total EV Sales In Q1 Can't Even Match Tesla's High-End Deliveries

The biggest automaker in the U.S. by sales on Tuesday reported a near 21% drop in EV sales for the first quarter of 2024, partly owing to the discontinuation of its best-selling electric model.

What Happened: General Motors GM sold 16,425 electric vehicles in the U.S. in the first three months of 2024, marking a drop of 20.5% year-on-year. The drop is largely due to the 64.3% year-on-year drop in sales of the Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles which the company discontinued in late 2023.

However, despite the production halt, Bolt was the best-selling EV for the company in the quarter, seconded by the Cadillac Lyriq. EVs, however, contributed to merely 2.8% of the company’s total vehicle sales in the country which touched 594,233 units in the quarter.

Comparing With The Bigshot: U.S. EV giant Tesla Inc TSLA on Tuesday also reported an 8.5% year-on-year decline in sales in the first quarter with 386,810 vehicles delivered across the world, shedding light on an overall decline in demand in the EV market. Tesla, however, does not segment its vehicle deliveries by geography.

Despite the overall sales drop, Tesla sold more of its higher-end EVs. The company has three higher-end EV offerings- Model S, X, and Cybertruck. The higher-end version of the Cybertruck is priced at nearly $100,000.

While the company does not provide a model-wise sales breakdown among the three, it reported on Tuesday that it sold a total of 17,027 units of the vehicles in the quarter, marking a 59.2% jump from the 10,695 units sold a year ago.

However, Tesla’s lower-end Model 3 and Y vehicles account for a majority of its overall sales. Model 3/Y deliveries dropped 10.3% in the last quarter as compared to Q1 2023, dragging overall deliveries lower.

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