New York: General Motors reported a quarterly loss Tuesday due to costs from restructuring a Chinese venture as the big US automaker forecast higher profits in 2025.
GM garnered higher auto sales in the fourth quarter led by its home market where pricing remained strong. But the earnings were dented by a $4 billion hit from revamping the SAIC General Motors Corporation.
GM had signaled the hit in early December as it sought to bring down costs and clear out inventory in China.
Still, CEO Mary Barra characterized 2024 as an "outstanding" year, pointing to the company's revenue growth, its doubling of electric vehicle market share and its progress in China, where GM scored a profit in the quarter prior to the restructuring costs.
In the fourth quarter, GM reported a loss of $3.0 billion compared with profits of $2.1 billion in the year-ago period.
Revenues rose 11 percent to $47.7 billion.
The company projected 2025 earnings of between $11 and $12 per share, above analyst expectations.
GM's 2025 outlook includes the full-year availability of sport utility vehicles revamped in 2024, as well as new EVs under the Cadillac brand set to launch.
Chief financial officer Paul Jacobson said GM's production levels of EVs will be modulated depending on demand.
Although economies of scale means higher production can theoretically boost profitability, "we don't want to overproduce to be able to realize some cost benefits and then up having to provide big incentives or big discounts to move that inventory," Jacobson said on a briefing with reporters.
GM's outlook does not attempt to estimate the impact of policy changes to EV tax credits, trade tariffs or other potential measures discussed by the new Trump administration in the White House.
Jacobson said the company had taken steps to move inventories from Mexico and Canada to the United States to try to get ahead of a potential tariff. But larger decisions will depend on a "little more certainty of what the environment looks like," he said.
