According to a report published by Automotive News, General Motors Co. (GM) has said that its Orion Assembly plant in Michigan will not commence production until February 2022. The company manufactures the Chevrolet Bolt EV at the plant.
Production at the suburban Detroit plant was first stopped in August following the recall of all Chevrolet Bolt EVs due to the vehicle’s battery pack catching fire. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently investigating the battery fires.
However, beginning November 1, the automotive giant conducted limited production at the plant for two weeks to provide courtesy transportation vehicles to customers whose cars were undergoing recall repairs.
On December 20, GM said it will carry out recall repairs as a priority and “focus on battery module replacements.”
In October, GM President Mark Reuss said that the company will first address the recall and then resume production of the Bolt EV.
Separately, GM is thinking of investing $2 billion to overhaul the Orion Township assembly plant to manufacture next-gen EV cars, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the plan.
Meanwhile, at the time of writing, the company’s shares were trading 1.6% higher in the pre-market trading session on Tuesday.
Wall Street’s Take
Last week, Daiwa analyst Jairam Nathan downgraded the stock from a Buy to a Hold with a price target of $65 (20.3% upside potential).
In a report, Nathan said that even with GM’s plans to launch a significant number of EVs until 2025, higher warranty costs and the rising cost of key materials like lithium are causes of concern.
Overall, the stock has a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 11 Buys and 2 Holds. The average General Motors stock price prediction of $74.15 implies 37.2% upside potential. Shares have gained 33.4% year-to-date.
Website Traffic
TipRanks’ Website Traffic Tool, which uses data from SEMrush Holdings (SEMR), the world’s biggest website usage monitoring service, offers insight into General Motors’s performance.
According to the tool, compared to the previous year, GM’s website traffic registered a 13.8% decline in global visits in November. Moreover, website traffic has decreased 7.7% year-to-date against the same period last year.
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