General Motors has made its goal to be the leader in electric vehicle sales clear. And Chevrolet dealers are determined to play their part.
"We want to beat Tesla on EVs," said Keith McCluskey, dealer chairman of the Chevrolet National Dealer Council. "We want to meet demand."
GM unveiled the Silverado EV at CES in January, and since then the automaker has logged more than 110,000 reservations, including those from more than 240 fleet operators. The pickup is slated to go on sale in 2023, along with electric Equinox and Blazer crossovers.
GM has committed $35 billion toward electric and autonomous vehicle development and plans to launch 30 EVs globally through 2025. As GM's high-volume brand, Chevy will sell EVs at price points for every consumer, executives have said. The Equinox will start around $30,000.
GM this year expanded production plans for the Silverado EV and intends to build a total of up to 600,000 electric pickups a year at two Michigan plants. The automaker is investing $6.6 billion to convert the Chevy Bolt EV assembly plant in Orion Township and to build a battery plant in Lansing.
Last year, GM sold 768,698 gasoline-powered Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups in the U.S., according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center. Tesla, which doesn't report sales by country, delivered 936,000 EVs globally in 2021.