Why GM’s CEO is still betting on electric vehicles (and racing)

General Motors was the first major American car manufacturer pledged to go all over 2035, just four years ago. These promises have since turned into approximate estimates under Donald Trump’s second presidency, as the company softens the language about its goals for electrification. But General Motors runs on EV sales, and as Mary Barra says, EVS is still the future – only in a delay schedule (very flexible).

“We still believe in a full electrician future,” said Barra freedom In an exclusive interview in the Loman race in France. “The regulations were in front of the place where the demand for the consumer was largely due to the shipping of the infrastructure, which did not happen at the speed that anyone expects.” “We believe in a full future, but the customer will guide us there.”

General Motors is not alien to political and financial opposite winds, but this time is different. Although the company has succeeded in moving in saving huge cars in 2008, Para faces new challenges due to the transformation of customs tariff policies, eliminating pro -EV incentives, thanks to the beautiful Trump bill, a changing global economic image, and the head of Mercury is not afraid of fencing companies.

General Motors has expanded the ambitious EV plans quietly in response to these pressures, even when the company witnessed an increasing profit of EV sales.

General Motors recently became the second seller of EVS in the world, crossing Ford, and closed the gap with Tesla amid the amazing fall of the company. Chevrolet became our fastest brand EV in the first quarter of 2025.

If Tesla persists in the downward cycle, it is completely possible to become the first General Motors in the first place. Last week, during General Motors profits, the company announced that it increased EV sales by more than 111 percent, selling nearly 50,000 cars in the first quarter. It is logical that the cancellation of the EV tax credit will lead to a key in this progress.

There is also the ongoing issue of the tariff that looms on the horizon. Barra recently appeared to support Trump’s tariff, and thanked the president for his support for the American auto industry, although it costs its company an estimated $ 5 billion.

“Some of the changes that we just announced give us an opportunity to develop the class, because there are vehicles that we cannot build enough of the current time,” Para said. “This is the company’s strategy and we are progressing from ascending and landing from the definitions.”

She said that the investment of $ 4 billion will definitely buy them for some time. “I am really satisfied with what we do because I think it is balanced, but we are dealing with what the customer is looking for, while we increase our ability to live in this world of tariffs on a large scale.” She indicated that she asked the administration “clarity and consistency” in these matters.

Trump also recently softened the California regulations that would have prevented the sale of gasoline cars by 2035 in the state. General Motors and other car manufacturers have been pressed to kill California regulations for years.

In response to the news, Bara said that when she looked at the market data, this was the right step. She said that she believes that the EV market “will be a chaos for the consumer”, and for traders, on the pretext that it will be “so bad that people will start shopping by the country to get the car they want.”

“If you look at what is the regulatory requirements of 2026, she is applying to the location of the consumer. So we hope that there will be a change there,” Barra said.

Although it surrounds pragmatism, it puts a retreat from the noble virtues of General Motors in previous years.

Para is trying to direct the huge General Motors ship through this turbulent water by bringing its luxury brand, Kadillac, to the global protrusion – especially in the form of its upcoming participation in Formula 1 starting in 2026.

Cadillac will be the first new team to enter F1 since 2016.

Para said that General Motors was aiming to return the luxury car maker to its old title as the world’s standard. “We have invested investment over the past decade so that Cadillac is really this standard,” Para said. “This is the final race from the endurance perspective, and this is very important for every consumer. What we learn here in many aspects, we can put in a production vehicle. So we believe it is an ideal stage where Cadillac can gain a place in the best luxury brands in the world.”

The race has seen a significant increase in attendance and Vandum during the past few years, due to Netflix’s Formula 1: Driving to surviveThe common show behind the scenes (drama) in F1. This phenomenon is referred to by race drivers and marketers alike as “Netflix Effect”. Oliver Javin, a 24 -hour player who won a player, indicated that all kinds of races have witnessed an elevator, all of which translate into marketing and gaining gold for brands for cars.

Cadillac tries to take advantage of this gold, and at the same time trying to re -establish itself in the markets where it only enjoys recognition of the consumer – in places like France, where the company opened the first showroom in Paris, which is located directly across the street from L’Opéra Garnier, not far from sculptors and Garden Des.

France is the largest EV market in General Motors in Europe, according to the company; However, it remains relatively small, and Cadillac has an EV brand recognition there. In 2024, General Motors sold only 2000 EVS in all of Europe. While Evs in Cadillac, like Lyriq, its heads are running there, General Motors face a violent reaction from the climate groups about its investments in ICE vehicles in the United States, which some critics say with the climatic targets that the company slows down abroad.

In addition to the unconfirmed business environment, Trump’s attacks hindered diversity, fairness and integration (Dei) also employment in American companies such as General Motors.

With a president, it is not afraid that the executives would wander openly such as Barra or careful revenge for executive orders and penalties, the executives and leaders alike had to spoil them carefully. Para itself is not strange to Trump’s anger. In 2018, when General Motors closed five factories in Ohio and Michigan and demobilized about 15,000 workers, Trump moved to social media and described Para as “bad”. Para publicly said that General Motors could have been in a better position during the first Trump administration, and it seems that she takes lessons from her first experience with the president, while continuing to support STEM education and comprehensive labor forces.

“General Motors is a federal contractor, so we will always adhere to all laws,” Para said, but it follows a more personal approach when it comes to navigating the case within General Motors.

“How many times were you at work and felt that you were not estimated or guaranteed? [employees] She said: “Start raising their hands. We do not have to agree on everything. We can make sure that people do, hear their voice, and they are treated as part of the team.”

Bara said she was afraid of the collapse of the idea of communication. She said, “This is not logical to me.” ))

Against these opposite winds, Barra appears to be confident in staying in the session with GM and Cadillac, especially since the brand enters the world stage with F1 next year. The race is in Le Mans, where two Kadillac teams finished the fourth and seventh place, just a first step to return to the company on the world stage.

“You know, we have a trademark that people know, they trust people. I think this is much more than what happens from a political perspective, or the various things that happen in the country now.” “So we think it is an ideal stage, as Cadillac is now, to gain a place in the best luxury brands in the world.”

For General Motors, her luxury brand Cadillac, and personally for Para, the risks are much higher than just putting another electrode on the network. Kadillac to the race is not only related to winning; It comes to proving that the American luxury brand can compete with viable (and variable) consumer products and technology, while its leadership is traveling in an increasing local political and commercial environment.