GMSV evaluating large electric pickups for Australia
Large electric utes like the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Hummer EV could be on the horizon for Australia, with GMSV evaluating all options.
General Motors Speciality Vehicles (GMSV) has made its bread and butter selling the V8-powered Chevrolet Silverado pickups and Corvette sports car, though it’s evaluating the possibility of bringing large electric pickups such as the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Hummer EV Down Under.\nGeneral Motors (GM) Australia and New Zealand managing director Jess Bala told CarExpert the company is “always evaluating what cars we think are the right ones for our market”.
“Whether it’s trucks, SUVs, smaller EVs, you name it we look at it,” said Ms Bala.\n“We look at everything and ultimately it comes down to what’s going on in our market locally, also potential price points, if we need to do conversions, things like that.
“[The] Silverado EV as an example, that’s in left-hand drive only right now.
“If we were to bring it here we would need to convert it, which we obviously can do if we wanted to go down that path, but we tend to look at it more from what the can deliver when it comes to the capability requirements.
“So we know what our customers need here. They want the 4.5-tonne towing as an example and those sorts of elements. We can meet those with the current trucks that we have in market.
“As the technology progresses and needs for those other EV variants on sort of workhorse vehicles arises then obviously we’ll look to go down those paths, but right now, we think the trucks that we have do exactly the job that they need.”
GM will introduce its first electric vehicle (EV) locally by the end of this year – the Cadillac Lyriq.
The company has also indicated announcements of new electric Cadillac models for the Australian market beyond the Lyriq will come “towards the end of the year, early next year”.
At this stage GM hasn’t detailed what these Cadillac models will be, but it has lodged trademark filing in Australia for the names Optiq, Escalade iQ, and Vistiq.
GMSV opened up for business in Australia back in late 2020. It currently offers the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Silverado 2500 HD, as well as the Corvette. It previously offered the Camaro.
In early 2025 GMSV will introduce the GMC Yukon Denali full-sized SUV locally. It will remanufactured in Melbourne by Walkinshaw like the Silverado pickups.
Jack Quick — Assistant Production Editor
Source: www.carexpert.com.au