GM Considering Small Electric Pickup Truck
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GM is moving to fully electrify its passenger vehicle and light-duty vehicle lines by 2035, with 30 new all-electric models set to launch globally by 2025. Now, a report indicates that GM is considering the development of a new small electric pickup truck.
Per Automotive News, GM already has renderings in-hand that show a small two-door pickup with a 4- to 4.5-foot bed and low roofline. According to the report, marketing images show the pickup being used for outdoor activities like surfing, and would be priced under $30,000.
At present, GM doesn’t have a name, brand, or production timeline in place for the hypothetical small EV pickup. According to the director of Chevrolet affordable EV and crossover design, the concept is primarily to gauge if such a vehicle makes sense as something to pursue further.
“We’re creating these to get a reaction and then to try to modify it or move on,” Pevovar told Automotive News. “What does work? What doesn’t work? What’s expected?”
At present, there’s no real competition for a small, two-door, all-electric pickup truck as described. That said, small four-door pickups like the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Fe have seen success in the U.S. To note, both of these models feature a gasoline-fueled internal-combustion engine.
Chevy Montana
“The input may come back that it’s just too small, and that’s ok,” Pevovar said. “Maybe [it won’t be] right for what this architecture can provide, but does it have legs for different architecture where it might need to be a little bigger.”
Although GM currently does not offer a small all-electric pickup truck, The General did recently unveil the all-new 2024 Chevy Montana early last month. Offered as a compact unibody pickup, the new Chevy Montana is equipped as standard with a turbocharged 1.2L engine rated at 133 horsepower and 155 pound-feet of torque. Critically, the small ICE-based pickup is only available in Latin America and other foreign markets, and is not sold in the U.S. or Canada.
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This maybe great for Cities or densely populated Urban areas .
A small pickup is needed weather its EV or ICE there is a market, GM would be smart to pursue and be first to market.
I remember when the first Trax came in 2013 ( Canada) maybe readers and journalists said it would never work , now the subcompact CUV segment is one of the fastest growing markets in NA.
A small pickup ICE or EV would find an instant market just like the Maverick has.
I don’t see this as a real compact pickup per se – more like the El Camino, something more of a lifestyle vehicle. If indeed I’m correct, I don’t see them selling this in great numbers. (Ford sold over 70,000 Mavericks last year). I would LOVE to see a new El Camino – that would be awesome. But from a bean counter take, I don’t see a real business case for this – if it’s 2-door low roof
Be smart and make a hybrid. Would sell twice as many.
As I stated on another thread about GM Benchmarking the Maverick this is exactly what GM needs to do.
Leapfrog the Competition. They will sell these like hotcakes.
GM currently doesn’t have hybrid tech or a platform that can compete with the Maverick. It would likely cost them billions in R&D, engineering, and production to get one to the market and by the time they do, Ford will have a Maverick EV to market.
Why not skip all of that, use the existing highly modular EV platform as the basis for your truck and bring something unique to the market before Ford does? It would be cheaper and faster going the EV route.
I believe that is what Momolos means, “leapfrog” as in skip the hybrid and go straight to EV.
I don’t think GM have forgotten how to build the Voltec powertrain which went into the Chevrolet Volt. That would do quite nicely in a small pickup with updated Ultium batteries.
You realize the Corvette E-Ray is a hybrid, right?
Gm needs a meverick fighter.
The Chevrolet Montana looks very much like the Hyundai Santa Cruz and they’re both ugly vehicles.
Stop trying to copy them and get some real designers moving on great vehicle ideas before Chevrolet follows Pontiac into the grave.
ICE only!
Agree with GM needing something to go against the Maverick. Not sure a 2 door is a good thing. I miss the old days where trucks were just that: Trucks. However, I’m not their market for this and it would need to be a 4 door. I can see a small EV or PHEV trucklet selling very well. Not everyone needs a half ton pickup to run errands and drive to work.
Agreed. As described it’s a new El Camino — 2-door low roof. If so I don’t see it going head to head again the Maverick.
Create a Ultium replacement for the Bolt and make a small SUV, SUT and maybe a small van and a small car/hatchback. Give the truck an extended cab version with a longer bed while a 4 foot version gets the shorter bed. Both could be same length.
Maybe fwd and awd. Maybe also make a RWD version to see what’s most popular.
Get the starting price as close to $20k as possible and top out no higher than $30k. Something to fit under the Equinox.
A 20K EV? In this climate? Its range would be 40 miles. PHEV or ICE, full ev is not sustainable. It’s wild how the market is being dictated over cool factor vs long term usability. I’ll stick to ICE because I keep my cars for more than a decade.
Another pickup ? what about looking back a little and bring some concept which was cool in 1998 to market now ?
Because an EV seems easy for everyone now, but the Styling above the platform is the point, and would like hybrid
GM like Tesla…
They are probably going to make another version of the there Avalanche EV but more Rubbish! And smaller if was GM I would make a hybrid truck And make it come out for the 2025 Model year and call it the S10, but apparently GM wants to make A Tesla small truck and probably Call it the Chevrolet “Silverado” EV model S Witch is complete rubbish there going to see what happens when there EVs Die on the road or Short circuit!
Reading that just gave me a stroke.
A mini SSR would be cool.
A mini SSR and HHR would be even cooler.
It’ll debut with a 200 day supply…
Going fully Electric will be the downfall of GM and they will be asking taxpayers for another bailout. Hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles make much more sense with a small ICE (turbo engine) for longer trips. Ford and Toyota have the right plan. GM and VW and BMW will fail.
if knew GM would be like that today, sincere preferred GM would be today non-existent !
VW and BMW fail …. disagree, see how they do well at DAX.
Well it’s GM/Tesla, VM, Vivian, Lucid and BMW will fail
A smart leader and Board would hedge their All-Electric bet with hybrid models. The world is still just on the cusp of an all-electric future. Not enough charging stations, not enough power plants to send electricity to the charging stations, not enough lithium building blocks in-country to hedge against economic blackmail from overseas countries.
The dingbats at GM have had 3 plus years to answer the Ford Maverick gas and hybrid models and have done nothing to counter it. Meanwhile, Ford has every Maverick answered for with order books closed for the year after just one week being opened. All GM can do is float stories like this to the press, sit back and see what happens. Which is what this current bunch running GM is great at doing: Sit back, watch the competition…..and see what happens.
I clearly remember back in 1974 writing a High School English Class paper on electric vehicles titled “Just around the corner”… I guess I didn’t realize just how long that corner really was !
Yup, and it’s probably another 15-20yrs. away, -providing they start preparing the infrastructure, and installing the charging stations today.
An electric truck is like a man in a dress on the women’s weightlifting team.
So what you’re saying is a man in a dress on the women’s weightlifting team is GOOD because EVs have more torque and towing power than diesel.
No that’s not what I mean. First of all, EVs don’t have more towing power if you only have 90 miles of range on a 300 mile F150 lightening when towing. Second, They don’t have more torque, it just comes on earlier. Third, if electric motors HAD more torque, trains wouldn’t all be diesel. Forth, it’s not fair to the women who can’t compete with a man in a dress.
The issue with the F150 isn’t the motor, it’s the battery. Other EV trucks that don’t use LG batteries don’t have that problem while towing. Also, you do realize that all diesel trains do is generate electricity to run electric motors that push the train, right?
Trains are not all diesel, they are diesel over electric hybrid. It’s a system that works very well.
Wow, I don’t think anyone can tell you just how wrong you are Barry. First, EV’s certainly can and do have more torque, it all depends on motor and battery size installed; it is easier for one of those to make big power than ICE. It doesn’t just come on earlier either, it comes on ALL THE TIME. There is no wait for the torque to peak only for it to fall off.
If you have more pulling power even though it is shorter, THEN IT HAS MORE TOWING POWER. How long doesn’t matter, but that is their short coming.
You do realize that trains are powered by electric motors right? The diesel motor is the generator just supplying power, same with ships.
Wow, the incorrect information and ignorance from your post is astonishing…
I have not got to the point where I am ready for an all electric vehicle, the diesel engines in locomotives runs an alternator which produces electricity for the electric motor which powers the locomotives. Like a hybrid which a lot of people seem to be willing to try. Let the drivers of this nation decide when to change and not be forced into that idea by our government and auto manufacturers.
I think we are missing something here.
Note they want full EV under $39k.
Also they are looking at a 2 door that would have a larger usable bed vs the Maverick. Who would show great interest in this? Company Fleets.
This combination would be perfect for company fleets. This would sell in great numbers to where it will help lower cost for a real deal for families.
Also it is a way to get these on the roads to prove that they are able to do the job of 90% of most drivers.
Spot on. My brother would love a maverick for his pool business, but the bed is just too small. If they made a regular cab or even extended cab with a 5.5-6 ft bed would be perfect. He is 98% all city driving, he drives about 60 miles a day and around 300 a week, an EV would work just fine (though a hybrid or plug in hybrid would be great as well). Parts trucks, pool guys, lawn operators, pest control, etc. that tow a small single axle trailer, all would benefit from either electric or hybrid small vehicles. Full size trucks have gotten too big and expensive, bed heights suck he said getting tools in and out. His old ranger was fantastic as he would easily reach over and in the whole bed, can’t do that with his silverado. Finding a smaller truck with 1k+ payload and 3kish trailering that is super efficient (EV or PHEV or Hybrid) and in the 20-30k tops price point would do well with the market that has been ignored (small business).
I hope something like that comes to fruition, with a midsize being crew cab only and short bed and the regular cab full size trucks starting at nearly 40k after taxes and not being efficient at all, it would be great to see something like that from GM.
I had three Chevy equinox. I enjoyed them and as a landlord could usually fit my tools in the back for most repair jobs. However I longed for a pickup that could fit my needs better and make good gas mileage. The Ford Maverick is perfect. Fortunately mine is in transit as I write this. Never thought I would leave Chevy for Ford but never say never. I’m as excited to get it as I was for my first car 57 years ago.
…and believe me when I tell you that you will love that Maverick even more than you imagine.
I’ve had mine for about six months…2.0L turbo, AWD, 4K tow pkg.
It’s surprisingly spacious inside, quick and handles like a go-cart….five different ‘Drive Settings’ available.
I especially get a kick out of the SPORT setting, it even changes the sound that the engine makes LOL.
Have been averaging around 26-28 mpg, exclusively comprised of in-town trips of 15-miles or so. Have had it on the highway a few times though. And it is stable as well as quiet.
Took me almost 9-mos to get it, but VERY much worth the wait.
bUt EvS aRe JuSt A fAd!
Yes, EVs ARE a fad and you can mock reality all you want, but gas is here to stay. Woke will go broke.
Even if you get that rare chance they reverse the laws EV is still going to be in play with the market.
Like Covid it is here and it is not going to go away,.
You understand that, in order to stem the tide of EVs, the laws of *many* countries would have to be changed, not just those of the U.S., right? Yes, EVs will henceforth be “in play with the market.” Of course they will. ‘Cuz, like it or not, it’s a world market, and there are countries in it besides ours, countries that take climate change seriously, and have their own laws on the books. Countries that actually build most of the cars competing with GM’s products.
So, yeah, they’re here to stay. But don’t worry, so is the ICE.
The ICE has come a long way, and is pretty darned efficient these days. Although an honest assessment of “efficient” in this case is achieving only about 50% thermal efficiency, and given the natural opposition to thermal efficiency inherent in the necessary ICE componentry, both internal and external, that’s not likely to get much higher–not to mention the fact that those levels are few and far between to begin with. Mazda has an engine said to get pretty close; not sure about that variable-compression engine from Nissan. Any others you can think of?
Anyway, don’t forget: The more widely adopted EVs are by others, the less pressure there’ll be on those of us who prefer our ICE-powered vehicles, especially if we do other stuff to reduce our carbon footprints. Bottom line: We’ll get to keep our ICEs–AND we’ll get the benefits of a shiny new electrical grid!
50% thermal efficiency is fantastic – made even higher by utilizing the discarded jacket heat for the cabin and de-icing.
The solar panels on my house have a whopping 13% efficiency.
More to the point – there always has to be a prime mover – and the current leaders are central power station gas turbines with heat recovery steam generators feeding a steam turbine for overall thermal efficiencies in the 60’s. Beyond that – while rarely used in this continent, ‘across the pond’ there are many places – mostly in asia and eastern europe where district heating (centralized) up’s the efficiency from there.
NYC has the largest district heating system where ‘Utility Steam’ is used for heating, air conditioning (via adsorption refrigeration), water heating and steam operated clothes dryers, and production line cooking. Too bad its application was not much more wide spread across the US.
But its tiring to hear how ‘inefficient’ the modern ICE engine is, when the efficiency is almost unbelievably good. The people pooh poohing ICE’s have no clue how ICE’s or EVs actually get usable work done.
Well, the thermal efficiency of the average ICE is not good. 50% is an outlier; most are in the 30s.
And your 13%-efficient solar panels aren’t emitting anything while they’re inefficiently generating their power.
Inefficient, yet liberals still want solar and not nuclear which is cheaper.
agreed … Way to small. And missing a few cylinders.
Seems the Subaru Baja was way ahead of it’s time. Maybe Subaru Wil bring it back?
call it the luv and the hipster would eat it up
This would be a nice option if it had an Ultium version of the Voltec platform. Being a Volt owner I can say that it would be the best of both worlds. All electric in town (most of the time) and sipping fuel on long highway hauls. I would definitely consider something like that as a daily driver and a shop truck.
Agreed Johnny V – the VOLT was a marvel of efficiency – especially in gasoline mode during the winter time… The GEN 2 versions (2016-2019) would have even been superior except GM took the dopey advice to make the heater operate electrically FIRST and then only utilize engine JACKET heat when it was about to discard the heat entirely via thermostat opening.
But the GEN 1 Volts (2011-2015 models), as well as the Caddy ELR (2014, 2016) were marvels of efficiency during the winter – if driven intelligently.
Way to go Wyoming
Too much too soon maybe Hybrid first
I would like to see this concept.
I will never automatically be against a regular cab, short bed, RWD pick-up.
If they’re trying to gauge interest in the concept, where are they showing it?