GM Super Bowl announcement with Will Ferrell to focus on electric vehicles

Text size

After being left in the dust for

Tesla

over the past year, actions of

General Motors

and

Ford Motor

started to rise. Both American car icons have new electric models coming, and GM is promoting its new models in the Super Bowl commercials. For GM and Ford, it looks like the old days.

One of General Motors’ commercials (ticker: GM) in the Super Bowl features TV and movie star Will Ferrell. In it, Ferrell criticizes Norway and its success in boosting sales of electric vehicles in the country. “Did you know that Norway sells more electric cars than the US?” asks Ferrell before placing his fist across a globe. It’s a funny commercial.

The commercial features the all-electric Cadillac LYRIQ and the all-electric Hummer. Some versions of the Hummer EV are due to start shipping in late 2021 and LYRIQ is expected to arrive after this release.

The announcement also features GM’s Ultium battery technology, the platform developed internally by the company, designed to be used on several EV models. Standardization can, hopefully, reduce EV cost and development time.

Not to be outdone, Ford (F) posted a video on Twitter showing its new all-electric Mach-E delivering pizza in Norway. Ford is proud to already be selling EVs in the Nordic country, ahead of GM.

EV investors may wonder where Tesla (TSLA), the leader of EV and the most valuable automotive company in the world, is. Tesla does not do much traditional advertising, relying on launch events, word of mouth and the personality of founder and CEO Elon Musk. Their company saves billions of dollars annually by not having to sell cars like traditional automakers do.

Still, everyone loves a good Super Bowl commercial. Another GM commercial honors Tim Burton’s film Edward Scissor Hands. The spot features GM driver assistance features, which makes driving easy even if the driver has a pair of scissors in his hands.

Ford’s presence in the big game was not as remarkable as that of its Detroit rival, but seeing Ford and GM shoot someone is nostalgic.

All commercials, including the Scissorhands ad, featured new EVs. More than two decades ago, another EV – the GM EV1 – made its commercial debut. This car was launched around 1996 and used lead-acid batteries. Today’s EVs use lithium-ion battery technology. The range of the EV1 was 70 to 100 miles on a single charge, about a third the range of modern EVs.

EV1 didn’t do that, but Ford and GM are more heavily invested in EVs now. GM has pledged to spend about $ 27 billion on EV and the development of autonomous vehicles by 2025. The plan is to launch 30 EV models between now and then.

Ford, for its part, plans to spend $ 20 billion on electric and autonomous vehicles in the meantime.

Investors are starting to notice. Ford and GM shares have risen more than 45% in the past three months, better than the comparable 11% gain from

S&P 500.

Tesla’s shares, however, rose more than 100% in the same period. Tesla is still leading the EV race by many metrics. But traditional car makers, including GM and Ford, are working hard to reach and create brand awareness among consumers.

Write to Al Root at [email protected]