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GM invests extra $1.35B in Cruise as other carmakers lay out EV plans

GM invests extra $1.35B in Cruise as other carmakers lay out EV plans

General Motors (GM), the American automobile manufacturer, has reportedly announced that it will purchase Softbank's equity stake in American self-driving vehicle company, Cruise, for more than $2.1 billion.

Cruise was purchased by GM in 2016 and within a few years that had widened the circle a little, attracting investment from Softbank, including $2.75 billion from Honda in an exclusive deal to build as well as manufacture a new type of autonomous car.

The company’s pool of investors has grown once again with T.Rowe Price & Associates and, recently, Microsoft, coming into the fold.

However, it is still not clear who encouraged the buyback. Although, it seems that General Motors is preparing the groundwork for a future spin-off and maybe an IPO of its subsidiary.

Earlier, Cruise received a $1.35 billion investment from Softbank Vision Fund around six weeks ago after introducing a limited public autonomous robotaxi service in San Francisco.

Now, with its proposal to purchase SoftBank’s equity stake, General Motors would own a lot more of the firm than it did before.

Meanwhile, German sports automotive giant, Porsche, has reportedly released an update on its EV plans during an annual meeting. The strategy now includes the production of an all-electric 718, accompanied by a Macan EV.

The company has also constructed out its own patented global network of charging stations in the upcoming year, a departure from its previous strategy of relying on partnerships with other firms.

Maserati, on the other hand, is planning to introduce a battery-electric edition of each of its models by 2025, phasing out gas engines as the decade ends, labeling itself as the latest brand to commit to going electric, following in the footsteps of Volvo and Aston Martin.

In North America, Ford announced that it will introduce three new electric passenger cars as well as four new electric commercial cars in Europe within the coming two years, accelerating its goal to sell more EVs in the continent on its road to carbon neutrality by 2035.

Source credit: https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/20/the-station-gm-deepens-it-stake-in-cruise-and-porsche-plots-out-its-ev-course/

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Omkar Patwardhan

Omkar Patwardhan started his professional career in the hospitality industry. Having nurtured a deep-sated passion for words however, he found his way into content writing and now pens down articles for numerous websites, including News Origins, spanning the sectors of business, finance, and technology.