Motoring: Ford, GM juggle today’s challenges with tomorrow’s promises – Gulf Digital News

Motoring: Ford, GM juggle today’s challenges with tomorrow’s promises – Gulf Digital News

General Motors Co (GM.N) and Ford Motor Co (F.N) are expected to report next week they turned solid profits for the last quarter of 2021, but rarely has past performance mattered less to investors.

The two Detroit automakers are in mid-leap between a combustion-powered present, and a future they have promised will be defined by electric vehicles and software-powered services.

Both companies have mapped out multibillion-dollar investments in new North American electric vehicle and battery factories, aimed at challenging Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and a flock of smaller EV startups in the still-tiny market. But those new factories will not be at full speed until the middle of this decade.

Though GM and Ford were once giants of the global auto sector, their market capitalizations have been dwarfed by EV maker Tesla. Tesla on Wednesday reported stronger than expected revenue and profit for the fourth quarter of 2021, but warned that supply-chain bottlenecks would continue through 2022 and likely prevent its factories from running at full capacity.

GM last year sold fewer vehicles in the United States than Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), the first time in 91 years that GM was not the No. 1-selling automaker in its home market.

GM and Ford's profits in