By David Shepardson
(Reuters) -General Motors said on Monday it will not advertise in the 2024 Super Bowl, the first time since 2019 it will sit out the heavily watched NFL championship game as it cuts marketing costs as part of a broad strategy to reduce fixed expenses.
The largest U.S. automaker said in explaining its decision that it continually evaluates its "media strategies to ensure they align with our business priorities."
GM, which said in July it planned to cut operating costs by an additional $1 billion through the end of next year, said in October it was slowing the launch of several EV models to cut their costs, and pulling back on EV product spending.
The GM Super Bowl decision was reported earlier by Ad Age.
GM has often used the Super Bowl to tout its new electric vehicles and last year featured comedian Will Ferrell in ads.
Prior to the additional $1 billion in cuts announced in July, the automaker earlier this year said it would cut fixed costs by $2 billion by the end of 2024. In the July announcement, the company said $800 million would come from reduced sales and marketing expenses and the remainder from "all areas of the business, including engineering expense, travel, and administrative costs.
In April, GM said about 5,000 salaried workers had taken buyouts and agreed to leave the company, which would reduce fixed costs by about $1 billion annually, including a few hundred additional jobs cut in February.
GM faces higher costs from a new labor agreement with the United Auto Workers union, including 11% immediate pay hikes and 25% through 2028.