After presenting its strategic plan to accelerate the deployment of all-electric vehicles in China at the end of November, GM has just announced that it will launch four new Ultium-based EVs this year in the Asian country.
SAIC-GM, the automaker’s main joint venture in China, is planning to launch four all-new electric vehicles using the Ultium architecture in the Chinese market this year, after completing the local introduction of the all-new Cadillac Lyriq – the first model with GM’s new zero-emissions technology in the country. In 2023, EV product introductions will span across all three brands Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet.
GM’s new onslaught of EV products in China will begin shortly with the official launch of the all-new Buick Electra E5, the compact-to-midsize crossover that made its world debut in the Asian country in late 2022 as the first Buick based on Ultium Battery and Ultium Drive motor technology. The company announced that sales of the Electra E5 in the Chinese market will begin in the first half of the year.
Although SAIC-GM has yet to specifically say what the other three EVs it will launch this year will be, it did reveal that the plan includes a second Ultium-second model for both Cadillac and Buick, and a first one for Chevrolet in China. As such, the next model introduction on the schedule seems to be the Cadillac Sub-Lyriq small crossover that GM Authority first caught in August.
For its part, the third EV of this product strategy is the upcoming Buick Electra E4 that the company confirmed for this year in China. The Buick Electra E4 is a compact crossover positioned below the Electra E5 and will be exclusive to the Chinese market, as GM president Mark Reuss revealed in November. Last month, we caught our first glimpse of the Electra E4 on public roads and confirmed that it is the production model of the Electra-X Concept.
The fourth and final EV that GM will launch this year in China will be the first Ultium-based Chevrolet in that country. Unlike the three Ultium models already unveiled in North America, the Bow Tie brand has only shown the Chevy FNR-XE Concept sedan so far in the Chinese market. The manufacturer said that this as-yet-unspecified mystery vehicle will be launched by the end of the 2023 calendar year.
In addition, SAIC-GM reported that it will launch another ten electric vehicles based on Ultium technology over the next five years. All of those models will be built in-house, so this particular product plan does not include imported vehicles like the Cadillac Celestiq and GMC Hummer EV that GM’s new platform The Durant Guild will introduce starting this year in China.
Subscribe to GM Authority as we bring you the latest Buick news, Cadillac news, Chevrolet news, GM Electric Vehicles news, GM China news, and ongoing GM news coverage.
Comments
Yep, China gets it all, and I get why. Someone in that nation of more than 1.4 billion is bound to buy these, and since GM only needs a fraction of them to keep the EV business profitable, they will cater to the largest pool of potential customers. But I still wish GM gave the US more attention. That’s where GM was made and the country whose people kept the brand going.
Nobody in America wants one, that’s for sure.
Most likely, those autos will wind up in the US. Consider starting in China as ‘beta testing’, so by the time they get here, most (if any) kinks have been knocked out. It’s like Opel was to GM in Europe.
Now GM’s CEO is Mei Lee Bahui La. Congratulations, China.