Inside General Motors’ (NYSE:GM) New Plan to Sell Electric Vehicles

While the electric vehicle (EV) market is not what it used to be, there are still signs of life therein. And General Motors (NYSE:GM) is chasing said signs with all the fervor it can muster. In fact, it’s got a new and surprising plan to help push those cars out the door, and that plan was enough to give GM a fractional boost in Friday afternoon’s trading.

So, what is GM’s secret weapon to push more rolling aluminum out the door? It’s Costco (NASDAQ:COST). Yes, Costco, the same place where you can buy a 68-ounce jug of Kalamata olives, gold bars, and a hot dog and soda for $1.50, is now a place where you can buy an electric car made by GM. They don’t have the cars there. Rather, they act as a partner, which extends special savings to Costco customers who are interested in making a purchase. That discount could be a big help, especially given the combined factors of declining EV demand and increasing difficulty in getting car loans.

Backing Off the Timeline

Meanwhile, word out of GM revealed that the plans for an aggressive timetable to an all-electric state have been pushed back. And almost as aggressively as they were created. GM CEO Mary Barra noted that the plans for GM’s EV aspirations would now play out “…over decades.” While the plan to ditch internal combustion is still in play, Barra reassured listeners that it was just fundamentally altered to the point where many of them would never see it happen. But with hybrid models increasingly taking prominence, the move is still on.

Is GM a Good Stock to Buy?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on GM stock based on 12 Buys, three Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 23.83% rally in its share price over the past year, the average GM price target of $56.27 per share implies 22.65% downside risk.

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