Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
General Motors said during its third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday that it will end production of its Chevy Brightdrop electric trucks at its plant in Ingersol, Ontario. The decision was made as sluggish demand in the electric truck market led to a backlog of hundreds of Brightdrop vehicles at dealers in both the United States and Canada.
GM CEO Mary Barra said the automaker will evaluate the CAMI assembly plant for future opportunities. “We did not make this decision lightly due to the impact on our employees,” she said on the earnings call. “However, the commercial electric truck market has been developing much more slowly than expected, and changes to the regulatory framework and fleet incentives have made the business more difficult.”
“This was not a decision we made lightly due to the impact on our employees.”
Brightdrop first launched in 2021 as part of GM’s efforts to capture a significant portion of the commercial electric vehicle market, starting with a pair of electric trucks, as well as fleet management software and electric-powered vans for delivering goods. The automaker has deals with Walmart, FedEx and other major retailers Add the truck to their delivery fleets. But after trying to make it an independent brand, GM will reabsorb BrightDrop in 2023and was later assigned to Chevy to leverage the brand’s sales and service dealer network.
Now the truck will stand as another victim The $7,500 federal tax credit expiresWhich ended on September 30. In addition to the consumer credit, there was also a $7,500 rebate on commercial electric vehicles under 18,000 pounds, which Brightdrop was eligible for. The truck was the leader of the range, but it was also more expensive than its most prominent competitor. Brightdrop vans started at $74,000, while a Ford E-Transit van with extended battery range sold for $51,600.
But even before the credit expired, Chevy was having trouble selling the truck. Earlier this year, the Detroit Free Press I mentioned Hundreds of Bright Drop vehicles were accumulating on both sides of the US-Canadian border.