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GM Should Take Notice Of The Rivian R1T Electric Pickup

The Los Angeles Auto Show came and went with much fanfare. New products gushed from the show floor, with journalists clamoring for a close-up with several new models. With the show lights dimming and focus now setting on Detroit, there’s one reveal still exciting the masses—the Rivian R1T—an all-new electric pickup truck. Initial excitement certainly makes it appear there’s a market for such a vehicle, just as Tesla has proven some sedans aren’t dead yet. As cool as the Rivian R1T is, how practical is it and how significant is the demand for such a vehicle? Those will be crucial questions going forward as Rivian takes the R1T from concept to production, and General Motors will watch developments closely. 

Gauging interest in an electric pickup truck is difficult, especially for a newcomer like the Rivian R1T. Pickup truck buyers tend to be brand loyal, often buy the same make and model again and again and again, even if the auto critics don’t like it very much.

This raises a question: should General Motors pursue developing a similar vehicle? The Rivian R1T appears to be the exact kind of product GM says it wants to build. Sedan sales are abysmal, forcing the company to propose a $6 billion restructuring that’s supposed to focus on electric vehicles, autonomous technologies, and hot-selling models like trucks. 

Rivian R1T 002 Interior

On the surface, the Rivian R1T doesn’t look atypical. It has a bed in the back and seating for five adults. It seems more Honda Ridgeline than Chevy Silverado. However, it does have a few distinct features. The truck has a watertight cover for the bed, a large front trunk, and a unique—dare we say ingenious—gear tunnel that sits between the truck bed and passenger compartment. The R1T isn’t your typical truck. The Michigan-based automaker created its own class of vehicles—the Electric Adventure Vehicle—and that makes a GM equivalent a possibility. 

The last thing GM wants to do is dilute its truck brand with whimsical experimentations. Instead, the automaker should focus on bridging trucks and our inventible electrified future with a versatile pickup truck designed for those adventurous millennials who post incessant hiking photos on Instagram. There’s no need to make an all-electric Silverado just yet. Instead, develop and produce a smaller, EV-based pickup as a proof of concept. Once customers get a taste of such a vehicle, then you can distill that technology into other trucks in the lineup. 

While Rivian has the limelight, GM has a century of automotive production under its belt. If GM wants a $6 billion restructuring that calls for layoffs, plant closures, and model discontinuations, citing EVs and trucks as the future, then an EV truck makes the most sense—unless, of course, the automaker is only tangentially making an EV effort to appease federal regulations and media scrutiny. 

Anthony Alaniz was a GM Authority contributor between from 2018 thru 2019.

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Comments

  1. “The Rivian R1T appears to be the exact kind of product GM says it wants to build. Sedan sales are abysmal, forcing the company to propose a $6 billion restructuring that’s supposed to focus on electric vehicles, autonomous technologies, and hot-selling models like trucks.”

    If this is GM’s future, LET’S SEE IT!!! GM had better keep their eyes closely on what they themselves believe will be the future of the automobile! We’ve heard enough talk lately about their reasoning and purpose behind the decisions they’ve made over the last several days! Now’s the time to begin showing the fruits of their investments!

    This Rivian R1T truck by all accounts and purposes should be wearing a Chevy or GMC badge! And I don’t want to hear about how we need to wait and see what they have to come! Because the thousands of people who’ll soon be out of work or forced to relocate for work certainly deserve to know what’s coming ASAP!!!

    This goes for you too, FoMoCo and FCA!!!

    Reply
    1. Although this seems like a market ready truck, GM is the king of NIH. Not Invented Here. Billions of Dollars will be spent to determine if an electric pickup is feasible. Never mind then one sitting on the Auto Show floor. It will take several years for GM’s clown car of engineers and product specialists to come up with an equally competitive vehicle, but by then the market and technology will have moved on. Why not just buy this company and put this truck into one of the empty plants. That’s way cheaper and way faster than reinventing the wheel.

      Reply
  2. YES !!!! I think they should but GM has lost there minds when it come to there truck program

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  3. This is not the segment for buyers as truck buyers are the least likely EV buyer.

    GM needs a really good EVCUV as this is were you will get more bites.

    GM has done the Hybrid trucks in the past it was expensive and had to be heavily rebates to clear limits.

    The off road people are not going to be interested as you can’t hardly plug in around most cities and there are no charging stations at Moab or in the woods.

    Something useful in the Nox size and Traverse might be the best area to start if you can get the price right and to where they still make money. You may need to start with Cadillac first and then filter it down as volume cuts price.

    How about a EV Escalade?

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  4. I am a truck buyer scott3 and I would replace my 15 Canyon with this tomorrow if I could buy it. I however will still need my HD for long distance trailer pulling and jobsite setup.

    Reply
    1. Yes but you are not a typical truck owner.

      Also to say this before one is offered to where you know what will do and how much also cone into play.

      The truck shown here is not a real production truck that the odds of it going bankrupt before production like so many others is real.

      Right now to go electric on a Colorado could easily add $20k to the price.

      The bottom line is I am not against at some point offering an electric truck. But the markets volume is not there yet. Also the price is not low enough yet,

      To build it now would be a major risk of capital and failure.

      The bottom line now is that few will pay for a Diesel option in a mid size truck and even less for all electric at the price they would have to charge.

      Reply
  5. Boy that is an ugly truck .

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  6. “Who Moved my Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson.

    Reply
  7. If people are not buying cars then what makes GM think that people will want self driving cars? GM has stated it will be decades before they will have autonomous and/or battery trucks. Aren’t trucks what people are buying?
    I’m a Harry Homeowner. I have a half ton truck to go to Home Depot and get mulch etc. 99.99% of my driving is local. If price competitive I would love a battery pick up.

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  8. Hiking millennials aren’t going to want a chevy colorado EV, they want a luxury branded CUV EV like the XT4… Here’s how GM can make an EV pickup successfully…Understand again this isn’t for millennials, your core market for an EV pickup is wealthy techies who need to tow their toys like boats and will happily pay premium pricing…Remember that stupid quick electric Camaro called the eCOPO? What a lot of people seemed to miss is that its a retrofit…Offer something similar with a full size pickup but ensure it’s not a Chevy, is at least a GMC but even a Caddy badge would be better…That would save years on development…Special order only…Charge a premium price for the Fullsize pickup EV but ensure it’s also stupid quick, gets good range and has a high tow rating…

    Reply
  9. Do dealerships have mechanics for all these new electric cars? Place I worked had 1 guy for Volts. He’ll probably retire in couple years?

    Reply
  10. Notice how it doesn’t have a ridiculous hood line like current trucks.

    Reply
  11. As might be heard in the GM board room in a few years as we see a bevy of electrified pickups of various flavors roaming the streets and countryside, “You know, we could have done that.”

    Reply

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