Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! The poll results are in (from last week’s edition) and it’s clear what you want: Analysis with a capital A. You also want scoops, a bit of a news roundup, and deals, but far and away you’re looking for analysis. I’ve always sprinkled my thoughts and insights throughout the newsletter, but over the next few weeks and months you’ll see me push further into analysis. On that note, earnings season is upon us and two stood out to me: GM and Tesla. Both companies are facing pressure from tariffs. And while GM also sells gas-powered vehicles, both are trying to sell EVs in a market that has seen growth slow while facing a future without EV incentives. How GM and Tesla plan to navigate this (or at least what they’re signaling) is quite different. GM, which saw tariffs take a $1 billion bite out of its Q2 line, still sees EVs as its “north star.” And while GM certainly trails Tesla in EV sales today, it has a bigger mix of EV models to attract customers — more than a dozen in all. And Chevrolet is now the No. 2 EV brand in the U.S. And while GM did tout $4 billion of deferred revenue from its advanced driver-assistance system Super Cruise, along with OnStar and other software services that will be recognized over time, the big theme of the call was “flexibility.” Chair and CEO Mary Barra and CFO Paul Jacobson said the word “flexibility” nine times during the Q2 earnings call. What they mean by flexibility is setting up factories where they can easily assemble EVs and ICE vehicles — and change up the mix based on demand. Techcrunch event San Francisco | October 27-29, 2025 Meanwhile, Tesla is betting heavily on the “future,” and for CEO Elon Musk that means autonomy and AI, or as he sometimes calls it, “real-world AI.” The vast majority (about 74%) of Tesla’s revenue still comes from selling cars, although Q2 resu...
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Last seen: 2025-07-29 08:37