Along with the purely electric GMC Sierra, the Chevy Silverado E is set to enter production in early 2023 at the overhauled Factory Zero assembly plant located in Michigan. Speaking with CNBC about the latter of the two zero-emissions pickup trucks, General Motors CEO Mary Barra described it as being “unmatched” in its segment. Earlier this year, she said it’s going to be a “stunning” truck.
It’s an interesting comment seeing as how the vehicle will be quite late to the party, arriving after the Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, and quite possibly after the Tesla Cybertruck as well. Ahead of its of its official reveal in January 2022 at CES in Las Vegas, we are being told the Silverado E will “educate people on what you can do with an electric truck when you have an electric truck platform.”
Reading between the lines, Barra’s comment was a subtle dig at Ford since its F-150 Lightning is not riding on a bespoke EV architecture, but rather on an electric adaptation of the combustion-engined fullsize truck. In other words, GM claims the Silverado E won’t have the packaging constraints usually associated with vehicles that switch to electric power while using the bones of an ICE truck.
The statement was made by GM’s top brass while speaking at the Automotive Press Association meeting in Detroit, claiming the Silverado without a combustion engine will make a “big difference” in the truck segment. It should be a similar story with the GMC Sierra sister model, with the two to be built alongside the GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV.
While the Hummer is aimed squarely at high-end buyers looking for a posh lifestyle vehicle, the Silverado E and Sierra E will primarily be electric workhorses with a much lower price tag to compete with the electric F-150. As previously mentioned, the Lightning is a huge hit as Ford has racked up 200,000 reservations, which will be enough to keep the Blue Oval busy for a couple of years provided most of these reservations will be converted into firm orders.
Source: CNBC
