General Motors has closed a financial year in which it has gone from less to more.
In the fourth quarter of the year, its benefits increased by 16% (up to 1,999 million dollars, about 1,840 million at the current exchange rate) thanks to the strong pull of 28% in income, up to 43,108 million dollars.
However, earnings fell 1% for the year as a whole and certify that the electric car manufacturer Tesla is the new US leader in four-wheel drive by profit.
In the whole of 2022, the turnover of the Detroit giant grew by 23.4%, to 156,735 million dollars.
After several years in which chip shortages and other supply chain bottlenecks have weighed on sales, General Motors has been able to raise prices and improve revenue despite selling fewer cars.
In 2020, it gave out 5,939,000 vehicles, compared to 6,296,000 the previous year, according to figures published this Tuesday.
In the fourth quarter, however, sales are already growing again, especially in the United States.
The increase in costs and various extraordinary items (including a charge of 657 million for the business in Russia and another 511 million for the repurchase of dealers of its Buick brand) have caused profit to fall by 0.8%, to 9,934 million .
Tesla, the firm signed by Elon Musk, earned 12,556 million despite billing 81,462 million, just over half that of General Motors, thanks to the higher margins given by its low diversification of models and the gigafactory system.
"General Motors led overall industry sales in the United States and posted the largest year-over-year increase in market share of any manufacturer, driven by strong demand for our products and improving supply chain conditions," he said. the president and CEO of the group, Mary Barra, in a letter to shareholders.
Barra points out that the adjusted net operating result marked a record of 14,500 million dollars, but at the same time admits that this year it will fall significantly.
His guidance for analysts and investors puts it in a range of $10.5 to $12.5 billion.
The net profit will be between 8,700 and 10,100 million dollars, according to the company, which most likely is that it will also fall in a year in which the rise in interest rates in the United States, its main market, will make it difficult to buy term cars and the foreseeable economic deterioration will curb demand.
That may force the company to apply sales price discounts, as Tesla has already done.
The company is embracing the electric car and investing in autonomous driving.
The company will jointly invest with Lithium Americas in the development of Thacker Pass in Nevada, the largest known lithium reserve in the United States and the third largest in the world, according to the company.
The $650 million investment is the largest by an electric vehicle battery maker in the United States, and Lithium Americas expects the lithium mined and processed at the project to enable the production of up to one million electric cars a year.
The start of production is planned for the second half of 2026.