Glitzier EVs Bound for Detroit-Hamtramck?

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

The past 24 hours has been all about electric propulsion and domestic nameplates, and this tidbit is right up the same street.

Hot on the heels of General Motors’ ratified UAW contract, in which the automaker pledges to keep its once-endangered Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant open, an automotive forecaster claims there’s more product headed to that facility than initially thought.

LMC Automotive, speaking to Automotive News, claims two new products will join the unspecified “electric pickup” and EV van GM has planned for the site. That pickup is GM’s answer to Ford’s development of an electric F-150; both are expected to appear around the same time — 2021.

Currently, Detroit-Hamtramck, which was once slated to close come January 2020, is still cranking out Cadillac CT6s and Chevrolet Impalas.

LMC claims the pickup and van, the latter of which could be a green rival to the Ford Transit (full-size Chevy Express and GMC Savana production is expected to continue into a third decade), will see production commence in 2021. Two years after that, LMC says, a brace of new EVs will appear. New EVs, but with old names.

GM hasn’t confirmed it, but LMC says the two vehicles will be electric versions of the GMC Sierra and Cadillac Escalade. This raises the question of what form the upcoming electric pickup will take. Are we to expect a standalone model? Surely GM’s planning to fight fire with fire in the full-size segment. If so, why the need for a Sierra variant, unless the first truck is an electrified Chevy Silverado?

As for the Escalade, the model enters a new generation in 2020 (expect to see photos and information on that revamp in short order). An electric version of Cadillac’s hulking range-topper would assist in “greening” the model’s image and help the brand do battle with a midsize Lincoln electric SUV expected to start production at Flat Rock Assembly in 2023. A more fitting challenger to that model would be Cadillac’s unnamed EV crossover, possibly due out in 2022.

That Caddy will be the first GM EV to adopt the company’s new, dedicated electric architecture.

[Image: Sajeev Mehta/TTAC]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Akear Akear on Nov 15, 2019

    They would be better off still producing the Impala and CT6. The last customers in the world to buy electric vehicles are those who would otherwise purchase either a truck or SUV. GM won't even find 10,000 annual customers for these vehicles. With this tiny output, how is the plant to stay open? Mary Barra really fooled the UAW on this matter. Right now, GM would worry about Cadillac's recent last-place showing in Consumer Reports. An unwanted electric SUV won't save them.

    • See 1 previous
    • Akear Akear on Nov 15, 2019

      @28-Cars-Later In 2017 1600 ELR's were sold, and in 2018 550 CT6-EVs were sold. Wow, now that is a future. Somebody in GM's marketing department is smoking crack.

  • 28-Cars-Later 28-Cars-Later on Nov 15, 2019

    Ah, back in the brief period when Cadillac made a sort of OK car.

    • Akear Akear on Nov 15, 2019

      Oh, I almost forgot about the infamous castrated Cadillacs release of August 2019. That month we were treated to the CT4 and CT5, which featured performance no better than a deluxe Camry. The days of the 180mph V-series Cadillac have ended.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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