General Motors

RANK22

Last year was a watershed for the auto industry from an investment perspective, as shares in incumbent carmakers came under pressure in the face of an mass investor exodus that favored upstart electric-vehicle manufacturers, especially Tesla. In August 2020, General Motors triggered the beginning of a rally in its stock price after unveiling its first serious Tesla competitor. The Cadillac Lyriq SUV will be built off a scalable architecture dedicated to battery-powered electric vehicles, an architecture designed to reduce costs and boost range. GM’s push into BEVs gained momentum following the November election. Days after President Biden took the U.S. back into the Paris Agreement in one of his first acts in office, CEO Mary Barra said her company would move to sell electric-only models exclusively by 2035—a dramatic shift for one of the giants of the automotive fossil-fuel era. As of mid-May 2021, GM’s stock had more than doubled since the Lyriq’s debut.