A General Motors Chevrolet Traverse sport-utility vehicle lines the assembly line at the company’s Lansing Delta Township Assembly Plant on February 21, 2020, in Lansing, Michigan.
Jeff Kowalski | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Detroit — general motors Expected to outperform crosstown rivals ford motor The company aims to become the top auto assembler in the United States within the next few years.
GM Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Mary Barra announced the goal Tuesday as the company reported its 2025 earnings and provided an outlook for 2026 that included expected tariff costs of $3 billion to $4 billion.
“Looking further ahead, we expect our annual production in the U.S. to reach an industry-leading 2 million units,” Barra told investors, detailing previously announced plans to increase domestic production.
GM is pushing to expand domestic production because tariffs on car imports to the US will cost the company $3.1 billion in 2025.
Based on the vehicles Barra mentioned, GM could reach its goal as early as 2027, depending on how quickly it ramps up production. Next year, the company plans to add production of gas-powered crossovers it currently builds in Mexico at factories in Kansas and Tennessee, as well as production of full-size SUVs and pickup trucks at its currently idled plant in Michigan.
Achieving the auto production target would not only help reduce GM’s expected tariff costs, but it would also steal the title from Ford, which has touted it in advertising and marketing efforts in recent years.
Ford, which bills itself as the “most American” automaker, will assemble 2.1 million vehicles in the U.S. by 2024, with 80% of U.S. sales being assembled domestically.
Meanwhile, GM, which has historically sold the most cars in the U.S., was also the largest importer of new cars into the U.S. by 2024, Bloomberg News reported last year. According to the report, about 1.23 million cars were imported that year, which is almost half of US sales in 2024.
A truck heads to the Ambassador Bridge to enter the United States in Detroit, April 1, 2025, in Windsor, Canada.
Bill Priano | Getty Images
Ford said it’s proud to have been America’s No. 1 producer of vehicles since 2009 and the largest exporter of vehicles assembled in the United States.
Asked about GM’s goals, a Ford spokesperson said in an emailed statement to CNBC: “Regardless of policy or tariffs, this is who we are and always have been.” “It’s good news for American society if other automakers that rely heavily on importing foreign cars into the United States are now ‘religious.’ But we have a long way to go before we can match Ford’s commitment to the United States.”
GM did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment or details about current U.S. production.
GM’s tariff costs this year will be similar to the automaker’s $3.1 billion tariff costs in 2025, even though the tariffs are not in effect for the entire year. This was actually lower than the automaker’s previously disclosed estimate of $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion in tariff costs last year.
“We have aggressively managed our net tariff exposure and brought our net tariff exposure to a much lower level than originally expected thanks to self-help efforts and policy actions that support companies like GM that are significantly expanding their commitment to U.S. manufacturing,” Barra told investors on Tuesday.
GM’s expected tariff costs this year could be higher, primarily due to duties on imported cars from South Korea.
President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States would restore tariffs to 25% after South Korea’s parliament failed to approve the deal. President Trump previously said that level would be 15%.
Barra said Tuesday that he is “hopeful” that the U.S. and South Korea can reach a new trade deal that includes a 15% tariff on cars exported from South Korea to the U.S., a figure GM used in its 2026 forecast.
“We wholeheartedly encourage countries to come to terms with the trade deals that we agreed to last October,” Barra told CNBC’s Phil LeBeau on “Squawk Box.”
GM is the second largest importer of automobiles from South Korea in the United States, after South Korean automaker Hyundai Motors. The Detroit automaker relies heavily on domestic factories for entry-level vehicles such as the Chevrolet Trax and Buick Envista.
