GM e-pickup to go on sale in late 2021
GM chief executive Mary Barra told investors the company’s first electric pickup will debut in showrooms in late 2021, and it will have a leg up on the competition.
“General Motors understands truck buyers,” she said.
Barra made the announcement hours before Tesla chief executive Elon Musk revealed his company’s new Cybertruck. But other GM executives are confident Tesla’s pickup won’t be in the same league as their electric truck.
“I suspect price-wise there might be some similarities, but I think in terms of size and capabilities, there might be a difference,” said Phil Brook, vice-president of marketing for GM’S GMC brand.
“People who buy our trucks, they are very proud of the fact that they’ll take their trucks anywhere, they’ll get them dirty, then they’ll wash them out and go to a five-star restaurant for dinner. So they’re not people who just drive them around and want to look good.”
Musk told a Tesla enthusiast podcast earlier this year he wants his truck, which is also aiming for a late 2021 market launch, to start at less than $50,000. During an October earnings call, he declared it will be the company’s “best product ever.”
Tesla probably won’t have the e-truck market to itself for long, if at all. Amazon-backed Rivian Automotive plans to launch its R1T pickup late next year. Ford has vowed to start selling hybrid-electric and battery-electric versions of the F-150 starting in 2020, and GM has committed to producing plug-in pickups at a plant it had been planning to shutter in the Detroit area.