General Motors and Ford once built much of their investor messaging around electric vehicles. A review of years of earnings calls finds both companies now mention EVs far less often while altering, delaying, or abandoning parts of their earlier expansion plans.
- An analysis of quarterly calls finds GM and Ford discussing EVs at close to pre-pandemic levels again.
- GM’s EV mentions fell from 82 in one 2025 quarter to 21 in the same quarter of 2026.
- Both automakers still sell EVs and keep new models in their plans, but the public emphasis has shifted toward gas trucks.
From the Spotlight to the Background
The pattern comes from a review by TechCrunch and Hudson Labs, which examined about seven years of quarterly earnings-call transcripts dating to 2019. At GM, EVs dominated the conversation in 2020, drawing more than 100 references on each call and accounting for roughly a third of the discussion. Through the following years EVs held around a quarter of each call.
Then the volume dropped. GM’s EV mentions slid from 82 in the second quarter of 2025 to just 21 on the comparable call in 2026. The company now uses more measured language, describing how it is aligning its EV capacity and manufacturing footprint with changes in regulatory policy. GM had previously pledged to go all-electric by 2035.
Where Cadillac Fits
Part of that earlier push involved positioning Cadillac as an all-electric brand, a plan that has since softened along with GM’s broader timeline. According to a GM spokesperson, the company still treats electric as the long-term end point and stresses quality over sheer volume, pointing to growing market share and investment in lithium manganese-rich battery chemistry meant to lower costs.
It is worth being clear about scope. The report deals with how GM discusses strategy on earnings calls, not the current Cadillac offers a shopper would see at a dealership, but it does illustrate how far the brand’s all-electric positioning has shifted from a few years ago.
Ford Follows a Similar Curve
Ford’s arc looks much the same. The company ramped up EV talk around the late-2019 debut of the Mustang Mach-E and the 2021 launch of the F-150 Lightning, keeping electric topics near a third of its calls for a stretch. The analysis notes Ford began easing off in mid-2024, before that year’s election, and has since spent more of its attention on trade policy and higher-margin gas F-Series trucks.
Ford’s chief executive has continued to describe the company as aiming to become a major scaled competitor in affordable EVs, largely through its Universal Electric Vehicle platform. That platform is due to launch next year, with a midsize pickup expected as the first vehicle built on it. As reported, those are plans on a timeline rather than products on sale today.
The Policy Backdrop
The shift lines up with changes in Washington. The analysis notes that under the Trump administration the $7,500 federal tax credit for new EVs was eliminated and environmental rules that had favored zero-emissions vehicles were rolled back. The report presents those changes as the backdrop against which both automakers adjusted their plans and their messaging, rather than assigning a single cause to the pullback.
What It Means for Shoppers
Both companies still sell EVs and discuss additional electric models, but the report describes revised timelines and a quieter emphasis. It specifically says Ford’s near-term focus includes higher-margin gasoline F-Series trucks; it does not make the same claim about GM or extend that point to both companies’ SUVs. The underlying analysis is based on Hudson Labs’ review of S&P Market Intelligence transcripts using an AI tool to track how often each topic appeared.
