GM plans to increase its electric trucks and Cadillac sports utility vehicle production by six times the current capacity by this year. GM CEO Mary Barra told investors last week that GM is going to accelerate its production in the electric vehicle segment. And now the news comes along from sharing it with suppliers that the production increase will be six times.
Last week GM told to media that it is aiming to deliver 400,000 EVs in North America during 2022 and 2023. She did not give specifics for how quickly production rates would grow. New details shared with suppliers indicate GM intends to increase production of its electric trucks and a new battery-powered Cadillac SUV to a total of 46,000 vehicles this year, up from a previous plan to build just 7,000 of those vehicles this year, according to information shared with suppliers.
GM is also expected to re-start production of its Chevrolet Bolt EVs. For now, the Bolt line has been idled. The change comes as GM is replacing batteries in existing Bolts under a recall. GM said in a statement on Tuesday, “As we have said, we have announced battery cell and assembly capacity investments that will give us more than 1 million units of EV capacity in North America by the end of 2025. We now have teams working to accelerate all of our upcoming EV launches, and our target is to deliver 400,000 EVs in North America over the course of 2022 and 2023.”
Electric trucks
GM told suppliers to its electric GMC Hummer EV trucks to plan for production of 21,000 of those vehicles this year at the automaker’s Factory Zero in Detroit, up from the previous plan to build 3,800 vehicles. GM has reservations for nearly 59,000 GMC Hummer EV pickups and SUVs, Barra said last week. The company has reservations for more than 110,000 of the electric Chevrolet Silverado pickups due to start production next year, Barra said.
GM told suppliers for its Cadillac Lyriq electric SUV to gear up for production of 25,000 of those vehicles this year, up from the previous 3,200 planned, sources said. Barra said last week demand was strong for the Lyriq. GM is responding not just to consumer demand, but to competitive pressure from long-time rival Ford. As Ford has said it plans to expand its EV production capacity to 600,000 vehicles a year by 2023. Ford began shipping electric Transit vans this week, and is aiming to begin delivering electric F-150 Lightning pickups this spring.
Credits- Reuters
