In every market where sales and margins are high, there will be and is competition. It is always important to remember that because all over the world, people are examining markets and trying to determine how to capture some of that margin in the sales in order to be profitable. An example is the electric truck, which is coming in the future.

In an article by Joseph White of Reuters, the world of the electric truck will be changing in the near future. You may have heard about Tesla and Rivian who stock all climbed on the announcements of a truck. Then the big companies stepped up to the plate, Ford announced the Lighting and has since doubled its production. The other major players in the truck business is GM and Dodge Ram which is coming in 2024.

GM came out with a $35 billion electric vehicle strategy being in 2023 and starting with the Chevrolet Silverado pick up truck. GM CEO Mary Barra announced at the CES technology conference in Las Vegas the first phase will be the $39,000 WT work truck that will be delivered to a limited group of commercial fleets. In the fall of 2023, consumers can buy the truck but the price tag will be $105,000. If you want a truck for less, wait a year until 2024 and other versions will be released.

If you love the shape of the Hummer, then you will like the new Silverado.

GM’s strategy is to win in the long run, by developing dedicated electric vehicle architectures and vertically integrated battery and motor production chain, then launching models in high volume by the middle and end of the decade.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the wonderful thing about business is there are different strategies that can and do work. A long term strategy requires the ability to have large resources behind you, a short term can be to capitalize on a trend and stretch it out into the future. In the end can the company make good margins and turn a profit which can pay shareholders? when you buy shares, you are buying into the company’s strategy until you disagree with it.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.