GM Delays Electric Pickup Production to Align With Demand

Published on October 17, 2023 in Electric by Guillaume Rivard

General Motors has made quite a statement with the launch of the outrageously sized and amazingly capable GMC Hummer EV, but the fact of the matter is that a lot more people are waiting for a Chevrolet Silverado EV or GMC Sierra EV.

And yet the automaker now wants to take things slow, pushing back the start of production at Orion Assembly in Michigan to late 2025. Why? The ongoing auto workers strike in the U.S. has apparently nothing to do with the decision.

According to comments made by a GM spokesperson to Automotive News, the primary reason is to “better manage capital investment while aligning with evolving EV demand." In other words, the company is concerned about the number of reservation holders (they were more than 150,000 a year ago) that will actually order a copy. Ford’s own electric pickup, the F-150 Lightning, posted a 46 percent drop in sales during the third quarter of 2023.

The GM rep also said that they have identified “engineering improvements” to implement in order to increase the profitability of these products, without being more specific.

GM has already started building the Silverado EV alongside the Hummer EV at Factory Zero in Detroit. A second shift will be added next year, allowing Sierra EV output to begin.

As for Orion, which will stop making the less profitable Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV later this year, the initial plan involved $4 billion USD in retooling work to expand Silverado EV and Sierra EV capacity by the end of 2024. Now, we know production won’t start until a year later, meaning no new vehicle will come out of the facility for about two full years.

About 1,000 Orion employees will have the option to transfer to another GM plant, including Factory Zero, and return once retooling is completed.

The Silverado EV will launch with two models—WT (510 hp, 615 lb-ft.) and RST (660 hp, 780 lb-ft.). The latter boasts max towing capacity of 10,000 lbs and 0-97 km/h acceleration in 4.5 seconds. Both enable a range of about 640 km and are said to regain 160 km in just 10 minutes when plugged into a 350kW DC fast charger.