Granted, the electric vehicle market is not the booming powerhouse it once was. However, legacy automaker General Motors (GM) is still attempting to gain a foothold in the market. In fact, it recently released a new electric Sierra pickup truck, which caused shares to gain fractionally in Tuesday afternoon’s session.
The new Sierra pickup, reports note, is out to take over the top slot in all-electric truck sales, which is a bit of a tall order given all the competition that’s currently in that market. Even as many automakers pull back on electric vehicles, there are still representatives out there. And the new Sierra is out to become a big seller.
Now, you might be wondering what is so special about it? According to global vice president of GMC Duncan Aldred, the new Sierra is “…a totally different proposition than anything that’s been launched by anyone else before.” Thus, GM is “…confident about the demand.” Yet, despite this confidence, GM didn’t reveal any estimates on when it expects to be the top name in electric truck sales.
However, given that the entire electric pickup truck market was around 38,500 vehicles during this year’s first half, being a leader in that market may not be so hard.
Data Trafficking Lawsuit
Meanwhile, General Motors is at the center of a lawsuit focused on, of all things, “data trafficking.” The reports noted that GM, along with OnStar, had collected data on around 1.5 million drivers and then sold that data to insurance companies.
This by itself is a low blow, but it gets worse when considering that GM had no consent from the drivers in question to do so, and the drivers essentially derived no benefit from having their data sold. The whole matter drew the attention of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who also noted that several other companies are involved in similar practices. That suggests that more lawsuits are yet to come.
Is GM a Good Stock to Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on GM stock based on 11 Buys, two Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 40.49% rally in its share price over the past year, the average GM price target of $57.50 per share implies 24.41% upside potential.
