A photographer from the Detroit Free Press snapped an image of approximately 300 Chevy BrightDrop electric vans parked at a GM storage lot in Flint, Michigan in mid-March 2025, which is said to be only a fraction of the BrightDrop vans actually present at the site.
The Press reports that a similar Reuters photo recently taken at the GM CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada shows similar rows of hundreds of Chevy BrightDrop vans stretching off into the distance beyond the boundaries of the image.
Speculatively, the swarms of Chevy BrightDrop vans could be part of a GM strategy to import as many units of the nameplate as possible to the United States before the paused 25-percent tariffs of President Donald Trump take effect in early April. The sudden appearance of the vans in Flint adds fuel to the rumor of pre-tariff stockpiling by The General.
However, this narrative is countered by statements from Local 88 of the Canadian labor union Unifor. Union representatives say the vehicles were earmarked for U.S. sales long ago before Trump imposed tariffs. The Chevy BrightDrop vans in Flint simply arrived there en masse because of a recent change in GM’s railway transport arrangements. This enabled the automaker to move a large number of the commercial EVs from CAMI to the U.S. all at once.
Another culprit accounting for the pileup of Chevy BrightDrop units on the Flint, Michigan lot could be sluggish EV sales combined with high prices. Commercial customers in the U.S. bought 1,529 BrightDrop vans in total for all of calendar year 2024, with the competing Ford E-Transit and the Rivian EDV selling 822 percent and 866 percent more units respectively.
Notably, the high price of the BrightDrop may be slamming on the brakes for its success. GM is currently offering a $25,500 rebate on the vehicles, with an additional $3,000 rebate for Costco members, for both Chevy BrightDrop 400 and BrightDrop 600 vans through June 30th, 2025. This is very close to the approximate $22,400 MSRP difference between the BrightDrop and the Ford E-Transit.
In addition to laying off 79 workers because of overstaffing following a return to two shifts of production, the CAMI plant recently underwent a two-week pause in operations. This was apparently to bring inventory levels under control.
Sam Fiorani, forecasting VP at auto sector analysis firm Auto Forecast Solutions, says that GM’s assessment of how strong demand for commercial EVs actually is put the company “way ahead of the curve at the moment, and sales aren’t meeting them there.”
He questioned whether General Motors is “anticipating 70,000 or 80,000 BrightDrop sales to break even, or can they work toward producing 10,000 a year,” describing the latter as a much more practical number for this type of vehicle than the sales you see from the Express.”
Comments
$25,500 rebate equals a desirability rating of ZERO.
There is nothing wrong with the they look. But the whole EV concept came along at the wrong time. My family’s business is nearly 100 years old. It survived by my grandfather’s wisdom. He always said ” Never gamble on anything that you don’t have a more than 50% chance of winning and always let others take the risks first. If it is a good idea, then you jump on it.”
Your Grandfather’s advice can make it a near certainty that one can provide their family with a good living, but taking a gamble can provide generation wealth, providing an exceptional living standard and possibly provide a living to untold amounts of employees.
Ex…Lets face it the Bright Drop is a gamble that will end in a catastrophic financial disaster….Now I would pay hard dollars to see whole slew of them in a demolition derby. The fires alone from lithium Batteries would rival anything ever seen in the great colosseum.
My reply was about risk in general, as was your Grandfather’s.
Nothing bright about it period!
It’s three fold. GM built a whole bunch of EV vans no one wants, tried to sell them at a ridiculous price point (per the article, $22K+ more per vehicle than competitors), and now with the looming tariffs, all the vans are on the wrong side of the border.
So of course GM recently contracted a rail carrier to transport the unwanted vans en masse to Flint. The loss per vehicle would be even more ridiculous, assuming GM can even sell any of these completely undesireable vans.
Nailed it.
The entry level Brightdrop van that is $22k more expensive also has about 56% more volume capacity than the Ford truck. These are more akin to Rivian’s EDV, which are priced starting at $79,900.
Part of GM’s partnership with Hyundai is rumoured to be a smaller commercial EV truck based on the ST1 platform. That would be more of a direct competitor to the E-Transit.
There have been a lot of bumps in the road with the Brightdrop launch. Battery cell shortages weren’t under control until late in 2023, battery pack assembly continued to be a problem after that (perhaps even more so here, since these vehicles used a 14-module configuration not shared with anything else), then the shifting branding and distribution modules (from direct sale to Envolve to retailer dealerships).
Now that things have settled out and they’re finally building a dealer network I think they’ll find their market. At minimum I would expect for them to start fulfillment on some of the larger contracts they had lined up.
Mary’s still “all-in” however….
You think there would have to be someone on the GM board that would recognize that converting a plant like CAMI that was producing 200k+ strong selling CUVs a year to one that produces a 10k sales dud EVZ vans a year is BAD BUSINESS. But instead Barra and company just keep doubling and trippling down on a losing strategy.
It is amazing how many board members (most IMHO) are just there to get a check and have their egos stroked. Their value is negligible.
Well… why not attend the next GM Stockholder’s meeting and raise that point to them in person. Bet everyone attending would enjoy hearing your insights, you know, in-person.
Would gm allow that? Heck, even Disney only has people call in and they screen them on top of that.
Mary B. Smith-Barra.
If you thought Roger B. Smith left GM in peril, Mary has been his much worse sequel and it’s amazing how similar they are. Both had grandiose visions about transforming GM into a tech-focused company and industry leader (all FWD for Smith and all EV for Barra) but both paid scant attention to the customer and what they wanted and stayed steadfastly stubborn in pursuit of their misguided vision..
Barra will meet GM’s mandatory retirement age on Christmas Eve next year. A great Christmas gift to all who grew up loving all things GM and still care and wish for a return to greatness for the once-mighty company.
GM needs new leadership now!
The government is controlling the auto industry with EV sales. Or dealership needs to sell 1 EV Silverado to be able to order 10 ICE Pickups !!!!
Mary needs to realize Dems aren’t going to be in charge for a long long time.
She’s filthy rich already. She could retire right now, not gives any effs about gm, and let the next generation of execs clean up her mess.
Yep, they are not, but the MAGAts are on their way to ruin this country. tRump’s tariffs are idiotic and will raise prices on new vehicles so those in the so-called middle class will not be able to afford new vehicles.
Don’t you guys get tired of being wrong about everything? Biden’s mental health, just about everything regarding COVID, the “culture war”, who’s really running things, “transitory inflation”, media and social media manipulation and lies, industries like gaming and entertainment (and now the auto industry) going “woke”, the list goes on.
What is it going to take for you to take a hard look at the world as it is and realize what is happening? We all have our blind spots, but come on man. When do you realize that your world view is off and you need to learn something new to make it more accurate?
I agree that you should rethink things. Biden’s health – debatable, and not the first time a president was shielded from the public knowing the full story.
COVID – actually science did an amazing job of figuring out what was a completely new virus, with characteristics that were unknown at the start, and our knowledge and response evolved accordingly. To deny that is to deny how science actually works. For example, the science at the time showed that the vaccine could indeed have stopped the spread of Covid, but a completely new phenomenon where the virus mutated inside immunocompromised people, meant much more rapid mutation that normal.
Culture war – that is strictly a matter of opinion, not right or wrong. There are lots of good reasons why we had to have discussions of culture, rights, etc. Some things went too far, but many were valid.
Inflation – a direct response, all over the world, to the recovery from Covid. And it was definitely dropping. Increases now are happening due to Trump’s actions, as well as bird flu, which is neither a Democrat or Republican issue.
There is much more media and social media on the right than on the left, which any clear analysis will show.
Inflation is still dropping and it will into the first or second quarter of 2026. Biden dropped the ball when in 2022 he decided to send 2 more checks out to people who were already employed and cashed up. Inflation is the result of too much money in the system. The tariffs will not cause inflation as they will not add money into the system. If GM and the others want to raise car prices, it is only inflation if the consumer buys the product at the elevated prices. Though, I suspect vehicles will be sitting on dealer lots as inventories are already beginning to balloon.
Stop reading and watching the news!
Their response will be “you nazi”.
With Brandon’s draconian regulations that has already happened.
to not call the damage to the economy and processes the Biden administration performed. not ruin is completely idiotic
Redesign them to use diesel or gasoline power –
exactly or hybrid power. and replace the express vans
Unless I’m mistaken it seems like I remember an article about Bright Drop Vans being stored in Canada close to a year ago. At that time the production had been paused at approximately 800. Listen folks at the rate the
democrats are going it will be eight years, if ever, that they will have any power again….. Both ICE engines and immigration are here to stay.
GMs EV obsession again.
They are waiting to go the crusher where they belong..
With a 25 grand rebate on new vans, the owners of existing vans just took an overnight 25 grand depreciation hit. Ouch!
How on earth can an EV van keep up with a diesel counterpart? No way can it stand the rigors of driving all around town 7 days a week. Add to that the electrical demands needed to charge dozens of these overnight. I won’t even talk about the cold weather drain on Lithium batteries that could make them half as strong.
EV is not the future. Hybrid maybe, but this whole green movement is just a grab for the green in my wallet. Cars are getting so advanced that they cost more to service over 15 years than the purchase price. My 2007 Tundra is rock solid and has minimal electronics compared to my new Tahoe. No way my Tahoe makes it to 15 years without a $1500 LED headlight replacement or a battery of sensors being replaced where a simple fuse or relay would suffice.
Vehicle manufacturers need to make cars simpler. No one wants to spend so much money to keep a car on the road. Maybe the rich people but the backbone of our society are the workers making minimum wage that can’t sustain that kind of output.
You will just have to replace your whole frame on the Ty-ota. That’s more than 1500 bucks.
Minimum wage earners are not buying new vehicles. Vehicle manufacturers are in business by selling profitable vehicles.
I live by this lot and them vans have been on there long long before Trump mention any tariffs, I hate when reporters report on something that they have no facts on. It’s like pushing propaganda but that’s all that comes from the left these days.
A bunch of armchair CEO’s in here 😂
All GM had to do is convert the Express to electric, and make the cutaway chassis electric too. No need for a whole new product at crazy price.
After GM stopped making the Chevrolet Step-Van and the GMC Value Van, I thought they’d given up on delivery vehicles. They even sold the P chassis to a company called Workhorse. I never imagined a modern-day version. Every day when I go out for my walk, I encounter EV’s of all stripes. Believe it or not, the Bright Drop is actually one of the better looking ones on the road.
It’s just Mary keeping GM green. Of course, nobody buys it as a customer.
Let’s see, no Camaro, no new van since 96 (at least), no bronco competitor, no passenger cars left at all for main stream customers. Her job is done ruining the company.
I would never buy a car from Grease ball Mecca. My 97 Grand Am…even the wiper motor crapped out. The check engine light never went off. If I were to buy a van, it’s a Rivian.
Its a great van and would be so easy to sell with a V8 !!!!
The automotive industry’s problem is, they don’t give the consumer a choice in the matter of vehicle choices 🙄. Not everyone wants a Ev , and you don’t get to tell people what to drive on the road. Our choice, our money 💰.