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General Motors expects to take a $6bn hit as a result of its stalled electric vehicle transition, as a sharp drop in consumer demand continues to take a toll on US car giants.

The Detroit-based carmaker disclosed the charge in a regulatory filing on Wednesday while also recording a $1.1bn service charge relating to a restructuring of its business in China.

Shares fell as much as 1.9 per cent in after-hours trading following the disclosure.

EV sales in the US fell steeply in the final quarter of 2025 after the Trump administration withdrew a $7,500 consumer tax credit, while the government is also seeking to roll back regulations aimed at curbing car emissions. GM’s EV sales declined by 43 per cent between the third and fourth quarter.

“With the termination of certain consumer tax incentives and the reduction in the stringency of emissions regulations, industry-wide consumer demand for EVs in North America began to slow in 2025,” the company said in its filing. “As a result, GM proactively reduced EV capacity.”

It added that “we expect to recognise additional material cash and non-cash charges in 2026 related to continued commercial negotiations with our supply base, which we believe will be significantly less than the EV-related charges incurred in 2025”.

GM, which produces the Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac brands, said in November 2022 that it expected to have a “solidly profitable” EV business producing 1mn units a year by 2025. Instead, it sold 169,887 EVs in the US last year.

At the end of 2024, it sold its stake in a plant in Lansing, Michigan, that was set to produce EV batteries as part of a joint venture with Korean cell maker LG Energy Solution. It has also reversed plans to convert plants in Lansing and Toledo, Ohio, into production facilities for electric vehicles.

The company said in October last year that it would incur $1.6bn in costs to scale back its EV production and that it expected to report further charges.

It is also bringing back its low-cost Chevy Bolt, whose battery will be supplied by Chinese giant CATL despite steep US tariffs on Chinese imports.

GM’s latest EV-related service charge came after Detroit rival Ford reported a $19.5bn writedown as it scrapped its flagship F-150 all-electric pick-up truck and other large EVs to focus more on profitable hybrids and combustion-engine models.

Ford, which announced last month that it was working on a new platform for smaller EVs, sold 84,113 fully electric vehicles in the US in 2025, less than half of GM’s total. Unlike Ford, GM does not break down its financial results by business divisions, meaning it does not report specific EV-related losses.

GM reported this week a 6 per cent increase in total US car sales between 2024 and 2025, retaining its crown as the best-selling auto group in the US with sales of 2.85mn units.