(New York) The American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) on Tuesday revised its forecasts for sales of electric vehicles in 2024, in a less lively market, while its compatriot Ford expressed concern about the “significant” threat of Chinese manufacturers.

At a conference organized by the German bank Deutsche Bank in New York, GM’s financial director indicated that the group now expected to sell between 200,000 and 250,000 electric vehicles in the current financial year, compared to 200,000 to 300,000 previously predicted.

“We think this reflects the current dynamics” of the market, explained Paul Jacobson, recalling that the group had anticipated operational profitability (excluding operating costs) from the bottom of this range.

“We think we can still achieve it,” he noted.

Regarding the group as a whole, the month of May “was very, very strong” with the monthly volume undoubtedly the highest since December 2020, rejoiced Mr. Jacobson.

According to him, “the results of the second quarter will be better than those of the first quarter” in terms of commercial performance.

The group had announced a 33% increase in its dividend and a new $6 billion share buyback program a few hours earlier. In November, it launched an accelerated share buyback program of 10 billion over the rest of 2023.

“Look at how big China’s market share is in electric vehicles. Look at what they are doing in terms of digital equipment, international growth and their operating costs. All of this represents a very, very significant competitive threat,” said John Lawler.

According to him, Chinese manufacturers have more advanced technologies than Western groups and they have a faster product development process, with a design “that has reached new heights”.

“They build vehicles. These are very competitive vehicles. They are good vehicles,” Lawler said. “It’s competition that’s going to be very significant, maybe not in the United States in the short term, but in Europe, in Southeast Asia. »

“The pace of change is happening much faster than we anticipated,” he warned.