General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Mary Barra: Well, I think it’s an important part, and I think when you look at BrightDrop, it’s a true just all growth opportunity for us. I think when you look at the Silverado EV work truck, I think that’s going to be very important as well. And so we’re going to make sure that as we grow our fleet commercial rental business, it has an appropriate profitability profile, not from the days 10, 15 years ago when we really stepped back from that. But I think whether it’s what we announced with Hertz and the number of customers that we have interested, every company is working to reduce their carbon footprint. And so the EVs that we have just to help support that I think are going to be very strong, and I think we’re going to have a good portfolio. So I think that allows us to grow, especially in areas where we weren’t involved in the past, EVs is a fresh start there.

John Murphy: I’m sorry, if you were to think about at 5% to 10% increase in wholesale volumes, would that be dominated by fleet? I’m just — because I mean everybody is obviously very concerned about the retail customer at the moment, but really neglecting that quarter of this market is traditionally fleet, and it’s 10% to 15% in the last couple of years. So I mean, the potential doubling in fleet volume that can come in the market at large and maybe being very supportive of that wholesale increase. So I mean, could you give us some numbers or thoughts on how supportive that could be to that 5% to 10% wholesale increase?

Mary Barra: I think when we talk about a 5% to 10% increase we’re talking across the board. When you look at the EV launches that we have, the fact that we have brand new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty pickups, the fact that we have the new midsize, which is just an outstanding midsized truck with the Chevrolet Colorado and the GMC Canyon as well as the Trax. So we think from an ICE perspective, we have an opportunity. We think from clearly the EV ramp-up that we’re going to have this year; it’s a part of it. And some of that — both of those exciting products will be in the fleet business. So I think it’s a both answer, John, not a single one or the other.

John Murphy: Thank you very much.

Operator: Thank you. Our next caller is Ryan Brinkman with JPMorgan.

Ryan Brinkman: Hi, thanks for taking my question. With regard to the $300 million tailwind you are assuming from clean energy tax credits in 2023, I heard you say this could grow substantially over time. I just wanted to check in, try to dimension that potential. Are you assuming a benefit of $35 per kilowatt hour or $45? And are you in a position yet to share or have you resolved internally with your JV partner how these tax benefits are expected to be shared between GM and LG? I’m just trying to dimension if the opportunity is 1 million vehicles in 2025, times $45 per kilowatt hour, $35, and then to understand whether we need to split that amount 50-50 or if there’s some other math we need to take into account?

Paul Jacobson: Yes. So Ryan, a lot of detail in your question. I’ll take it back to what we said at Investor Day was we expect EV benefits, tax benefits to be $3,500 to $5,500 per vehicle. The $300 million in 2023 is obviously a function of our ramp rate of our cell production. We’re not going to go into any details on how that works across the board. It’s our best expectation of where we’re going to land is at least $300 million this year and ramping up rapidly as our production increases across our Ultium plants.

Ryan Brinkman: Okay, great. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Our next caller is James Picariello with BNP Paribas. You may go ahead sir.

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