For all of General Motors' (GM -5.44%) and Ford Motor Company's (F -3.19%) faults over the years -- and there were plenty -- they have always built highly sought-after larger vehicles and sold them at volumes that made competitors envious.

As the world evolves toward adopting electric vehicles (EVs), it requires strategic changes for these two Detroit automakers –- but here are 10 billion reasons why BrightDrop and Ford Pro can fuel growth.

1. BrightDrop

BrightDrop is a new wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, but many investors overlook its potential. If you don't know much about BrightDrop, here's a quick summary. It primarily produces large commercial electric vans designed to save its customers money on fleet optimization and logistics for last-mile delivery.

It boasts partnerships with major companies, such as FedEx, Walmart, Ryder, and Hertz, among others. Through fuel and maintenance savings, as well as software designed to optimize fleets, its expectation to deliver customers $10,000 annual savings per vehicle -- compared to diesel counterparts -- is a compelling option for fleet operators.

Another interesting aspect of BrightDrop is Trace Grocery. In September, BrightDrop unveiled the eCart, designed to improve online grocery fulfillment, and Kroger was the first company to sign up for units. With eCommerce and last-mile delivery becoming more important, there will be many intriguing options for growth in the future.

Let's get to the important part, because we know it's all about the money. BrightDrop is on track to reach $1 billion in revenue this year, one of the fastest companies to ever achieve this. More importantly, GM confirmed it's set to generate $10 billion in revenue by 2030 at 20% profit margins.

Now let's take a look at Ford Pro, which shares only some similarities with BrightDrop, but is vastly important for the folks at the Blue Oval.

2. Ford Pro

Let's start by saying Ford Pro is less of a start-up business focused on last-mile delivery, and it's more of a refocused look at the company's combustion engine, hybrid, and EVs for fleet sales -- but it plays a key role in the company's top and bottom line and will have room for innovation and growth similar to BrightDrop.

In 2022, Ford Pro accounted for $3.2 billion of the company's $10.4 adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). That compared favorably to Ford Model e -- the company's EV segment -- which checked in at negative $2.1 billion.

Ford Pro checked in at almost half of Ford Blue, the company's historical internal combustion retail segment, which generated $6.8 billion.

Ford Pro boasted an excellent first quarter with $1.4 billion adjusted EBIT, with EBIT nearly tripling on an 18% increase in wholesales of internal combustion engine units and EVs. It also boasted a 64% increase in paid subscriptions through its software to help optimize fleets.

Ford Pro anticipates growing revenue from $27 billion in 2019 to $49 billion in 2025, partially through new services aimed at helping commercial customers optimize their business with EVs and connected services.

What's changed?

A couple of decades ago, fleet and commercial business were frowned upon because one fault of the Detroit automakers was their tendency to fill production capacity with low-margin small vehicles, often to rental companies.

Thankfully, GM and Ford have learned from these mistakes, and now they're doing what they do best: building bigger vehicles to fill a growing need. Further, they've also learned to grow revenue through adjacent markets with connectivity, subscriptions, and innovative products such as GM's Trace Grocery.

This will be something investors need to keep an eye on, because management has always hyped new business opportunities and many times over-hyped. However, if BrightDrop indeed reaches 20% margins, it and Ford Pro will grow into critical components of their growth and investment stories.