Tesla (TSLA.O) is not the only auto manufacturer holding important events for Wall Street this week.

Just days before Elon Musk's highly anticipated 'Robotaxi' appearance on Thursday, General Motors (GM.N) will host an event for analysts and investors on Tuesday afternoon this week.

This is the first Investor Day for the company since November 2022. At that time, electric vehicles were the focus, especially the company's high expectations for the all-electric Chevrolet Equinox, Blazer, and Silverado models.

General Motors has delivered these models, but overall growth in electric vehicles has not met the lofty expectations of 2021 and 2022.

Analyst Mike Ward of Freedom Capital Markets said he will focus on General Motors' latest investments and profit plans in the electric vehicle business. Recently, the company announced plans to produce at least 0.2 million electric vehicles this year and achieve 'variable profits' in the electric vehicle portfolio by the end of 2024.

"Variable profits" do not include fixed costs like factories, similar to positive gross profit. Both goals represent progress. However, General Motors has not disclosed the financial situation of its electric vehicle business like Ford Motor (F.N) has. Ford's electric vehicle business lost $2.5 billion in the first half of 2024, selling approximately 36,000 electric vehicles.

Nevertheless, Ford achieved an operating profit of $5.5 billion in the first half of the year, while General Motors earned $8.3 billion. Both companies' traditional businesses continue to be profitable.

However, investors have begun to worry about the impact of the slowing US economy on profits. Analyst Emmanuel Rosner from Wolfe Research wrote in a preview report that it is crucial to convince investors that traditional auto business can maintain sustained profits and free cash flow during an economic downturn.

"Expectations for this event are relatively low, with most investors predicting a decrease in operating profit and free cash flow by 2025, with substantial losses still expected for electric vehicles," Rosner added. "This provides General Motors with more constructive space than expected."

Like Tesla on Thursday, autonomous driving technology and self-driving taxis will also be on the agenda. Ward mentioned that General Motors is "likely to discuss Cruise." Since last year, following an incident where a Cruise vehicle was involved in an accident dragging a pedestrian, General Motors' Cruise autonomous taxi service in California has had its operating permit suspended, now close to a year.

Despite this incident, General Motors still holds ambitious plans for Cruise. In August this year, General Motors announced plans to incorporate Cruise vehicles into Uber's (UBER.N) fleet.

This may indicate that General Motors does not intend to operate its own autonomous taxi network independently. This will be discussed in more detail on Tuesday afternoon.

By the start of trading on Tuesday, General Motors' stock price has risen by about 28% this year, about 9 percentage points higher than the S&P 500 index. Despite lingering concerns about economic slowdown, General Motors' stock performance has been excellent, attributed to the company's repurchase of approximately $16 billion in stocks.

Capital return plans, including dividends and repurchases, remain a top priority for investors. General Motors expects to generate around $8.4 billion in free cash flow by 2025. Utilizing a significant portion of this for additional buybacks will undoubtedly help drive stock price up.