GMC targets electric truck leadership against Tesla, Ford, Rivian

MILFORD, Mich. — General Motors’ premium GMC brand wants to become the leader in all-electric truck sales for U.S. consumers as it launches its new electric Sierra pickup.

The Sierra EV joins electric versions of the Hummer, including an SUV and pickup, in GMC’s electric “truck” lineup. The automaker is expecting the Sierra will become GMC’s top seller for its EV lineup as lower-priced variants become available next year. A roughly $100,000 “Edition 1” of the vehicle recently started reaching customers.

“We believe this is a totally different proposition than anything that’s been launched by anybody else before. So, we’re confident about the demand,” Duncan Aldred, global vice president of GMC, told CNBC at GM’s proving grounds in suburban Detroit.

GMC did not disclose a timeline for when the brand expects to lead retail electric truck sales. But to do so, it will have to outsell its sibling Chevrolet Silverado EV as well as competitors from Ford Motor, Rivian Automotive and Tesla, which Motor Intelligence reports led such sales with its Cybertruck in the second quarter.

Aldred said he believes there will be cross-shopping between the Sierra and Cybertruck, but he doesn’t necessarily believe they are primary competitors, despite the vehicles being similarly priced. Citing internal data, he said many Cybertruck buyers already own Teslas, while roughly 80% of GMC’s reservation holders for the Sierra previously had non-GMC vehicles.

“What we know is about 70% of Cybertruck buyers are Tesla owners,” he said during a media event. “So, they’re not necessarily truck buyers, they’re Tesla buyers.”

Automakers such as GM rushed to release all-electric pickup trucks, in part because Tesla planned to build such a vehicle. That led to fears that the U.S. EV leader would dominate the truck market, which is crucial to the Detroit automakers, like it did for electric cars.

But EV adoption has been slower than many expected, and the electric truck market remains in its infancy.

The all-electric pickup truck market was roughly 38,500 vehicles during the first half of the year, including retail and fleet sales, according to Motor Intelligence. That compares with the more than 1 million traditional or hybrid full-size pickup trucks sold this year through June.

Leading all-electric pickup truck sales through June was Ford’s F-150 Lightning at 15,645 vehicles, according to Motor Intelligence. It was followed by the Tesla Cybertruck at nearly 11,600 units during that time, including a segment-leading 8,755 during the second quarter, according to the automotive data and analytics firm.

GMC’s Hummer pickup, which has been slow to ramp up production and sales, was last at…