Top executives from General Motors and Ford said Thursday the new agreements granting access to Tesla’s massive Supercharger network will significantly reduce the amount of money they will spend to develop the charging networks needed to support their growing fleets of electric vehicles.

GM CFO Paul Jacobson said the automakers expects to save as much as $400 million through the agreement with Tesla, while Ford CEO John Lawler noted Ford’s investment in its deal with Tesla is negligible, but it offers considerable benefit to the company’s EV customers in the future.

“I know Ford went first, but I hope when the history books look back, they will say we did it at the same time,” Jacobson said during his appearance at a conference for investors and analysts organized by Deutsche Bank. Ford and GM will be in a position to use Tesla’s fast chargers in 2024.

GM, Ford share strong outlook

In broad stokes, Jacobson and Lawler offered similar outlooks for the automotive market in the months ahead as consumer demands for new vehicles remains strong, prices for new vehicles remain steady and production of electric vehicles continues to expand.

“So far the year has gotten off to a fantastic start,” said Jacobson, and the industry overall has performed beyond the expectations of many analysts. “We’re still seeing strong retail pricing,” he added.

Lawler said while there has been some “margin compression” at the dealer level, overall pricing remains strong, and Ford foresees tremendous opportunities for growth in both its traditional business built around internal combustion engines and its electric vehicles as well as its commercial business.

Strategies diverge at key points

During their presentations, Jacobson and Lawler also outlined some of the divergence in the strategies of the two companies, notably in autonomous vehicles and subscriptions built around vehicle software.

Lawler said Ford believes autonomous vehicles with no steering wheels “are years off in the future.”

Jacobson, however, re-iterated GM’s belief Cruise, the automaker’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary, will serve as a major competitive advantage in the future. The emergence of artificial intelligence or “AI” has become a major talking point and Cruise’s autonomous driving platform is now at the leading edge of the AI revolution, GM officials have repeatedly said.

Cruise is rapidly expanding its network of autonomous vehicles, and while GM is continuing to support the development financially, it should begin producing its own revenue by 2025. It will give GM an advantage not only in ride sharing but also “personal” autonomous vehicles.

Jacobson said GM also is moving forward with the development of new software-based features for its ICE and BEV vehicles, which it will be ready to unveil for investors this fall.

Lawler said as Ford moves to build its subscription business, it will focus on safety and security not only on the road but also when the vehicle is parked at home. Vehicles are expensive and Ford believes customers will pay extra to protect them.

However, Ford does not expect to try and push consumers into paying for the kind of services they have long gotten for free. “We are not going to ask them to pay for entertainment or connectivity,” he said. “If they want to bring their phone with their music into the car, that’s fine,” Lawler added.

GM created a stir recently when it indicated it would soon no longer support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the two most popular phone-based automotive apps, in its future vehicles.

Lawler also noted Ford’s subscription business for the company’s commercial business is growing rapidly, adding to the revenues from Ford Pro, which will be evident as the company reports earnings in the future. 

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• Source: https://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2023/06/gm-ford-enjoy-big-benefits-from-tesla-charging-deals/