A Cadillac all-electric 2025 Escalade IQ luxury SUV is displayed during press day of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, September 14, 2023.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
DETROIT — General Motors on Tuesday said the Iran war is causing cost increases to its business, but inflated consumer expenses such as higher gas prices haven’t deterred buyers from spending on pricey vehicles.
GM CEO Mary Barra said the Detroit automaker continues to monitor any change in customer spending but, so far, the company’s vehicle mix has remained healthy.
GM said it had an $52,000 average transaction price for vehicles during the first quarter, which was in line with last year. The average new vehicle transaction price across the industry for March, the most recent data available, was $49,275, according to Cox Automotive.
“I think the biggest variable that we’re looking at is how long does the conflict last and what does it cause from a cost perspective across logistics, supply chain, and if it ends up having any impact on a shift in mix, but, to date, we really haven’t seen that,” Barra said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call Tuesday with investors.
Barra’s comments follow consumer confidence plunging to a record low in April as fears mounted over rising energy prices and the broader impact of the Iran war, according to a University of Michigan survey earlier this month.
They also come after the company reported a 9.7% decline in first-quarter sales compared with an unseasonably high March 2025. GM also said it’s dealing with tighter inventories, specifically on its full-size pickup trucks, as the company retooled for updates to the vehicles for later this year.
Barra said if there are major shifts, including a more apparent move into less expensive or all-electric vehicles, that the company feels it’s well positioned to meet those needs as well.
GM CFO Paul Jacobson and Barra said the Detroit automaker is continuing to offset higher costs as best as it can through warranty improvements, cost efficiencies and potentially by deferring some hiring.
“While our operating performance remains strong, as reflected in our excellent first-quarter results, the war in Iran has raised our costs and its duration remains uncertain,” Barra said. “We are working to offset these cost pressures by reducing spending in other areas and by continuing to find efficiencies across the business.”
The GM executives specifically singled out rising energy and logistics costs due to the Iran war and its impact on oil as driving up costs, but they declined to disclose an exact amount of the impact.
On a broader basis, GM on Tuesday said its first-quarter performance is expected to offset incremental increases in commodity and freight costs — including from logistics and higher DRAM chips — of $1.5 billion to $2 billion for the year.
Dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips are semiconductors that are essential for powering infotainment, digital clusters, advanced driver assistance systems and EV systems in vehicles.
But the DRAM costs aren’t related to the Iran war. Those price hikes are coming from increasing demand for the chips, including outside the automotive industry, according to industry experts at S&P Global Mobility.
“Automotive is not the only industry vying for DRAM. The current supply crunch is driven by the AI explosion, especially in data centers, where high-bandwidth memory (HBM) DRAM is in high demand. As a result, major DRAM manufacturers are reallocating wafer capacity to serve this more lucrative market,” according to a Feb. 26 post from S&P Global Mobility.
Jacobson on Tuesday said the company has “no real concerns” about supply chain shortages involving the Iran war, specifically concerning raw materials, at the moment.
“We’re not projecting or worried about any shortages right now, and I think the supply chain team has continued to prove their resolve through yet another challenge, as we’ve seen them do in years past,” he said.
GM on Tuesday said it has, and will continue to, divert shipments of vehicles, including its highly profitable full-size pickups and SUVs, to the U.S. instead of the Middle East amid the war.
“Usually that’s a very strong market. So after this conflict ends, I think there’s upside there,” Barra said.
