General Motors may begin producing electric vehicles at its Lansing Grand River plant by as early as 2024, according to a new report.
The American automaker is currently in the midst of a plan that will see it introduce 20 new electric vehicles globally before the end of 2023. With so many electric vehicles in the pipeline, GM will need a place to build them, and it seems it will retool some of its existing plants to do so rather than build or buy new ones.
According to Automotive News, Lansing Grand River is among those plants that GM is looking at retooling to build EVs. The publication says the automaker’s plan would have to be approved under the next UAW labor contract, which will come up for negotiation in 2023, so it is still subject to change. The Lansing plant currently builds the Cadillac CT4 and CT5 and Chevrolet Camaro.
AN also reports that under this plan, the CT4 and CT5 “potentially would become battery-powered.” The more likely scenario, however, would see the sedans replaced with entirely different battery-electric models that ride on GM’s dedicated BEV3 platform and occupy the same or similar segments. These theoretical Cadillac EV sedans would also ditch the ‘CT-‘ names for a badge ending in “-iq” as per Cadillac’s future naming convention.
The future of the Camaro is also murky, as we reported previously. We know the current, sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro will be discontinued at the end of the 2022 calendar year and it’s not clear if GM is planning a replacement. If Lansing Grand River is converted to produce EVs, the next-generation Camaro (assuming there will be one) would have to be built elsewhere or become an EV. The latter of those two scenarios is not as far-fetched as it may seem, with GM teasing a battery-electric coupe with a short rear deck and long nose at its EV Day media event earlier this year. GM has also already shown us what an electric Camaro could be capable of with its lightning-quick eCOPO drag car.
GM BEV3 Platform
GM outlined some of its future EV plans in its 2019 Sustainability Report. The document indicated that Chevrolet has plans to introduce the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt EV, the new Bolt EUV crossover and will also eventually roll out a battery-electric pickup truck with more than 400 miles of range. Cadillac, meanwhile, will roll out its Cadillac Lyriq electric crossover next year and will also release a high-priced electric luxury sedan called the Celestiq. The luxury brand also has a large electric SUV in development that will take after the Cadillac Escalade and a smaller electric crossover built in the same vain as the Cadillac XT4.
Notably, a Chevy EV coupe and smaller Cadillac EV sedans were not mentioned in the sustainability report, though these potential future offerings are still quite a long way out, so perhaps GM is keeping its cards close to its chest for the time being.
We will continue to uncover more about General Motors’ future EV plans, so be sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more GM future product news, GM electric vehicles news and around-the-clock General Motors news coverage.
Comments
What for, both the CT5/Camaro are better sellers in their current format than the Bolt is. Will they be cheaper to build, perhaps but once again where is the market that GM hopes will embrace these EVs?
With the Bolt’s style it was always going to be a limited seller in the US. But putting the Bolt’s EV components in an sedan or sports car you have something that would be highly competitive. The Bolt in its pedestrian form can already do 0-60 in under 6.5 seconds. The HP limit on the Bolt is more about the amount of current the batteries are capably of delivering and also the small tires on the vehicle.
Just trying to wrap my head around how you compare Bolt sales to Camaro. You think they’re being cross shopped by consumers? I think GM would be pretty happy if they had Camaro sales as high as a Tesla Model 3.
With all of the recent EV updates, I did some digging. Does anyone find it interesting that Buick is the only GM brand that doesn’t have an “Upcoming” or “Future” vehicles landing page? I realize that right now, Buick isn’t going anywhere but it’s hard to build excitement around a brand that doesn’t even have a landing page for some of their concept projects.
Seeing Buick’s Chinese popularity, and the PRC plan to embrace EV due to high pollution, I would imagine EV Buick’s will be designed and debut in China and depending on performance and popularity, will then be brought to North America.
Exactly right.
Buick only exists in the USA because of its popularity in China. The Chinese see Buick as a thoroughly American luxury brand, that’s the entire appeal and why it sells so well there. That’s literally the only reason why GM didn’t kill it back in 2010.
The Chinese wouldn’t want to buy a car from an orphan brand that doesn’t even exist in America anymore…they won’t be fooled. So they have to keep Buick alive in America in some capacity, and that likely means shipping Chinese Buicks here to sell.
In all honesty. there’s no real need for Buick anymore in America. Their entire lineup is now 4 SUVs, and not that much nicer than any of the far more popular and near as luxurious GMC SUV’s you can buy. Hell, the Denali sub-brand has arguably stronger brand cache then then Buick does as a full-fledged brand. Why do you have two companies selling near-luxury SUV’s at the same time? I love Buick, but as a business case, doesn’t make much sense.
Here: www. buick . com / future-vehicles / 2021-envision
Buick does have a link devoted “Upcoming Vehicles” (i.e., the 2021 Envision).
Go to buick.com.
Select the tab “Upcoming Vehicles”
Choose “All-New Envision”
A CT5 based EV would sell well against the Tesla Model 3.
Hmmmm, more GM EV talk, and no new EV’s built. Can I say it again? GM EV’s blah, blah, blah, blah! They have the talk down, but not the walk. A lot of the other major competitor manufacturers are putting EV’s in the showrooms. GM’s EVs are still 4 years out. Funny how that date keeps being four years out?!?!
Was GM suppose to release a new EV this year? Over $4 billion being spent on plant upgrades and new plants is an awful lot of talking.
By 2024, the CT4 and CT5 will have ended their production run along with Cadillac’s 40 year quest to be BMW. I think it’s pretty obvious that both models will be short-lived. Based on everything GM is doing/saying, they won’t be replaced either as Cadillac embarks on a new mission to imitate Tesla.
I’m just about to take delivery of my CT5-V which I’m very excited about, but for the future, I still like to do “road trips” which, for me, sometimes means 800+ miles in a day. I realize there are charging stations popping up all over the country, and technology is always improving, but until they make a vehicle that can go all day, without several long stops to recharge, I’m just not interested. A few seem to be coming closer to that but they’re the dedicated long range versions. At present it seems you still have to choose between a model that does long range, or a model that does performance. Speaking just for myself, I’m certainly not against the idea, but I think it’ll be quite a while yet before I step into a showroom and check one out.
Just think in terms of four, like in the GM EV’s will all be in showrooms in four years. But, then, next year GM will say their EV’s are only four years out. In 2022 the GM talk will be about all the EV’s they will be introducing in the next four years. And of course, the year after GM EV talk will be about the upgraded mileage in their EV’s coming in four years. Beginning to get the idea here? GM and EV’s blah, blah, blah, blah.
Time to think about the GM Oshawa, Ontario facility. Dedicate production of EV trucks, Cadillac and export.
Oshawa GM has a strong reputation for build quality and truly is a legacy facility since 1908.
Edward Ey
Wow the news just keeps getting more and more exciting- NOT