General Motors Seems To Be Sticking To Its Plans These Days

I had two interesting conversations this weekend that reminded me of how well General Motors is doing relative to the historical perception of the company. One was from a Tesla owner who asked me which company I thought was doing the best with electrification. Globally, that’s still probably BYD, and Tesla will probably sell the most EVs in the United States for years to come, but GM has positioned itself quite well for the future.

A different Tesla owner asked me what I thought about the Chevy Traverse, specifically because it’s a nice way to get into Super Cruise. I just finished driving a nice RS model (review coming eventually), and so I was able to relay to him that I not only liked the car, but also thought Super Cruise was still the ADAS system I trusted the most among the current offerings. It turns out that Super Cruise isn’t just functional; the company also sees a lot of profits coming from the service in the future.

While The Morning Dump may start this week with a company preparing well for the future, that seems to be the exception. First Brands allegedly played the long game poorly, and now most of its brands are being sold off before the whole company collapses in on itself. China was supposed to be a growth market for Škoda, but that is clearly not happening. And the Middle East is where luxury carmakers go to reap huge profits, but even delivering cars is dicey right now.

GM’s Playing The Long Game With Super Cruise

The bad rap that GM gets is that it abandons technologies and markets right as they’re becoming popular. It’s not entirely unfair, as the company does have a history of doing just that. Though, how much of GM’s current leadership can really be blamed for walking away from airbags or touchscreens a half-century ago?

Recently, the original founder of robotaxi company Cruise accused GM of falling into old habits after abandoning the self-driving startup. That sounds wrong to me. Cruise was a terribly run company, and it would have taken years for GM to recoup its investment, if it ever did. Closing when it did and rolling what it could into its excellent Super Cruise ADAS system seems like the best of a lot of bad choices.

Will GM, having gone so far with Super Cruise, abandon that, too? I don’t think so, and GM CFO Paul Jacobson told a crowd at the Bank of America Global Automotive Summit that the company sees “exponential growth” for subscription services, which is currently a mix of OnStar and Super Cruise.

As Automotive News reports, the GM strategy is to offer new vehicles with eight years of basic OnStar and three years of Super Cruise if the vehicle is so equipped. That gives the owner plenty of time to decide if it’s something they want and use.

About 13 million people are subscribed to GM services, generating about $20 in monthly revenue per person, the company said.

“What I like about it is by giving everyone the basic package for eight years, you’re casting the widest possible net,” said David Whiston, a senior equity analyst for Morningstar. “You almost have to push it to [consumers] rather than hoping they’re going to volunteer or get sold on it at the dealership. You just want to let them have it with no obligation.”

About a third of customers with the basic OnStar subscription upgrade to access additional features, including advanced safety and video streaming services that can be paid for on a monthly or yearly basis. At least 30 percent of the 35,000 GM drivers whose three-year subscription to Super Cruise expired in 2025 renewed.

The article also goes on to point out that subscriptions, while potentially annoying, are high-margin for the automaker. GM isn’t alone here, as plenty of other automakers are pursuing a similar strategy. Ford’s also added a host of workplace subscription services under its Ford Pro banner. I don’t like short trials, and I think basic things, like heated seats, are silly to charge for as they’re not going to get any better with an OTA update. Super Cruise and OnStar offer services that require constant upkeep and can improve over time.

I also think this new attitude also applies to GM’s electrification strategy. While other automakers are in the process of tossing most of their plans either for something entirely new (Ford) or nothing at all (Honda), GM has continued on basically the same path, albeit with some reasonable revisions.

First Brands Sells Fram, Autolite, And Trico For $25 Million

I remember going to Las Vegas for SEMA and the associated industry-focused show AAPEX and marveling at just how huge the First Brands section was. It made sense, First Brands built a portfolio of most of the recognizable aftermarket brands, including Fram, Autolite, and Trico. Still, it felt like an entire floor.

First Brands has now filed for bankruptcy after it was alleged that the auto parts maker had committed fraud on a grand scale to pay for all those acquisitions. What has been sold, has been shut down, as the company has been unable to get the emergency credit it needs.

Per Bloomberg:

PGI Northstar will also take on certain liabilities related to the 12 brands in the deal — which include Fram, Autolite and Trico — according to court documents dated Thursday.

First Brands, which recently had to shut down more factories, had been trying to sell the units while they were still operating. But potential bidders pulled out as orders dried up and the company ran out of cash to keep the businesses open, court documents show.

“Unfortunately, the high cost and associated funding requirements for resuming operations of these business lines have catalyzed key customer departures,” the company said in the filing. A judge must approve the sale before it can close.

For their part, the company’s founders have plead not guilty to numerous fraud chargers.

The Middle East Might Be More Important Than China For Luxury Carmakers

While there aren’t as many consumers in the Middle East as there are in China, buyers there historically spend big money on wild custom and limited versions of cars from Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and more. Those companies are facing a threat from the Iran War, as delivering a car to a war zone has gotten a little harder, at least according to this Reuters article:

Brands including Lamborghini, Ferrari, Jaguar Land Rover and Porsche are watching nervously. “It’s very high margin,” Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume said of Middle East sales in a media briefing earlier this month, adding of the Iran war: “We will see an impact there for sure.” VW Group owns the Bentley, Lamborghini and Porsche luxury brands.

Most luxury automakers don’t disclose regional profit margins, and some, including Bentley and Rolls-Royce, no longer publish global sales numbers. But Ferrari reported volumes in the Middle East made up 4.6 percent of overall sales last year, more than it sold in China and up from 3.5 percent in 2024. The Italian sports car maker’s sales in the region are stable for now, a spokesperson said.

Former Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer said during his tenure he would first call wealthy collectors in the Middle East to offer high-margin special editions. Palmer told Reuters the Middle East collectors were so eager for exclusives, ‘You almost didn’t need to ask.’

In this current environment, there’s almost nowhere 100% safe to sell a car. And don’t worry, these buyers are likely to be able to still get around with their 15-20 other cars.

Škoda Is Out Of China

You blew it, China. You had excellent Czech carmaker Škoda in your country, but you were too busy buying BYDs and Geelys. And now, the South China Morning Post is reporting that the brand is leaving:

Established in 1896, Skoda entered the Chinese market in 2005 through a partnership with SAIC Volkswagen. Following the 2007 launch of its first locally produced model, the Octavia, the brand leveraged Volkswagen’s technical platforms to position itself as an “affordable German-engineered” alternative.

By 2018, the brand reached its peak in China with about 341,000 deliveries, making China its largest market. At that time, it maintained a network of more than 500 dealers selling cars including the Octavia, Superb and Kodiaq.

Despite aggressive price cuts, the brand sold 15,241 vehicles in China last year, according to company data, a 95 per cent plunge from its height and far short of its previous strategic goal of 500,000 annual deliveries.

What a waste.

What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD

The New York Auto Show is happening this week, so I’m going to feature some live performances from New Yorkers. Here’s the incredible Fiona Apple doing “Extraordinary Machine” with her longtime collaborator Jon Brion. Is this my favorite Fiona Apple song? Today, yeah.

The Big Question

What is your best subscription? It doesn’t have to be car-related. What’s your silliest?

Top photo: GM