General Motors will delay by a year electric pickup production at its Orion, Mich., factory due to “evolving EV demand,” less than a week after competitor Ford said it will slow production at the plant where it makes the F-150 Lightning.
Though U.S. electric-vehicle sales hit records in the third quarter, the growth in demand hasn’t been what many automakers had expected.
Third-quarter EV sales surpassed 300,000 units for the first time and are on track to exceed a million this year by November, according to Cox Automotive data. It said EV sales have grown for 13 straight quarters, fueled partly by the launch of more models. They hit 8% of total sales in the quarter for the first time.
GM now plans to convert the Orion plant from Chevrolet Bolt production to production of the electric Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra in late 2025 rather than a year earlier.
Ford has said it expects its EV unit, Model e, to lose more money this year than it originally thought and planned to build 400,000 EVs a year by 2024, a year later than it had targeted. Last month, it announced plans to double hybrid F-150 production next year.
