Goodbye Ultium: GM ditches widely promoted brand

GM didn’t give a specific reason for canceling the Ultium brand, but said its electric vehicles were close to becoming profitable.

General Motors is dropping the Ultium name for its electric vehicle architecture and related technology. The automaker has not given a reason for the change, but it may have decided it no longer needed the brand while expanding its electric vehicle portfolio.

The company expects to produce about 200,000 electric vehicles in North America by the end of 2024 for the Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC and BrightDrop brands. While that’s well below the 300,000 units GM originally planned to produce this year, the company’s Ultium model is clearly getting closer to profitability.

READ: Electric vehicles were Cadillac’s second-best-selling product in Q3

A GM spokesperson recently told Automotive News: “As GM continues to expand its electric vehicle business, the company will no longer brand its electric vehicle architecture, batteries and cells or electric vehicle components under the Ultium name in North America. Promotion.” GM will retain the Ultium name at its U.S. joint venture plants.

General Motors started using the Ultium name in early 2020. It serves as an umbrella term for the company’s electric architecture and its traction motors, drives and battery packs. Current electric vehicles based on the Ultium platform include the Acura ZDX, Buick Electra E4 and E5, Cadillac Lyriq, Cadillac Celestiq, Chevrolet Blazer EV, Chevrolet Silverado EV and Honda Prologue.

Speaking at an investor day at its Spring Hill, Tenn., manufacturing site, General Motors CEO Mary Barra revealed that the company’s early investments in electric vehicles will allow them to be more powerful than many expected achieve profitability earlier.

She revealed: “The inflection point in electric vehicle profitability is coming much sooner than many people think, but it is driven by the strategy we began executing in 2018.” Earlier this year, General Motors said its electric vehicle goals is to achieve positive variable profits (excluding fixed costs) in the fourth quarter and mid-single-digit margins in 2025.