General Motors Company
(
GM
) intends to manufacture 500,000 vehicles per annum by 2017 that
will include some from of electric technology as a part of its
long-term goal to become a leader in the fuel-efficient vehicles
market.
The vehicles would mainly include plug-in hybrids such as
Chevrolet Volt, apart from pure electric vehicles such as
Chevrolet Spark EV that will go on sale next year. The company
also plans to push its eAssist system technology in its new
vehicles. The eAssist system boosts fuel efficiency by 25% in
gasoline-powered vehicles.
Last year, GM announced plans to manufacture a luxury electric
car dubbed ELR based on the technology used in its Volt plug-in
hybrid for its Cadillac brand. The Volt, which went on sale in
mid-December 2010, is the most fuel-efficient compact car sold in
the U.S. as rated by the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
GM has already chosen the battery supplier A123 Systems Inc. -
which filed for bankruptcy last month - for its Chevrolet Spark
EV. The pure electric Chevy subcompact would compete with
Nissan Motor Co.
's (
NSANY
) Leaf, which was introduced in late 2010.
Many automakers started focusing on electric powered vehicles as
President Barack Obama's administration set a goal of achieving 1
million battery-powered vehicles on the road by 2015.
In August this year,
Ford Motor Co.
(
F
) announced its plan to invest $135 million to develop key
components, including advanced battery systems, for its
next-generation hybrid-electric vehicles. The automaker is
looking forward to double its battery-testing capabilities to 160
individual battery-test channels by 2013. It aims to boost
development of hybrid-electric vehicles by at least 25%.
The company plans to launch five fuel-efficient hybrid-electric
vehicles this year including Focus Electric, C-MAX Hybrid, C-MAX
Energi plug-in hybrid, new Fusion Hybrid and Fusion Energi
plug-in hybrid. It also plans to triple production capacity of
electrified vehicles by 2013.
GM, a Zacks #3 Rank (Hold) stock posted a 9.7% fall in earnings
to 93 cents per share (excluding special items) in the third
quarter of the year from $1.03 in the corresponding quarter a
year ago. However, earnings per share in the quarter far exceeded
the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 61 cents.
Revenues in the quarter grew 2.5% to $37.6 billion, surpassing
the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $36.3 billion. Worldwide sales
volume inched up 1.6% to 2.3 million units from 2.2 million units
a year ago. However, total market share declined to 11.6% from
12.1% in the third quarter of 2011.
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