by Michael Gauthier
- The best-selling electric truck in America is now gone.
- Only GM, Tesla, and Rivian still sell electric pickups.
- GM has three entries, which seems like far too many.
The Ford F-150 Lightning was the best-selling electric pickup in America, so its death was a tad surprising. Then again, production was already halted indefinitely, so its unceremonious demise wasn’t exactly shocking.
It’s hard to blame Ford as the numbers tell the story. Through the first nine months of the year, Ford only managed to sell 23,034 Lightnings. That was only up 1% from 2024, which is a tad surprising as third quarter sales soared 39.7% thanks in part to consumers rushing to take advantage of expiring EV tax credits.
More: Ford Pulled The Plug On More EVs Than You Realize
Of course, 23,034 is a drop in the bucket when overall F-Series sales totaled 620,580 units. That’s less than 4% of sales and Ford decided those low numbers were impossible to justify.
The Blue Oval isn’t the only one to look at terrible sales of electric trucks and have second thoughts. Back in September, Ram announced it was pulling the plug on the fully electric 1500 REV. The model was originally supposed to arrive in late 2024, but it never ended up launching.
At the time, Ram blamed slowing demand for full-size battery electric trucks in North America. This forced them to reassess their product strategy and decide to “discontinue development of a full-size BEV pickup.”
Nevertheless, the company renamed the range-extended Ramcharger as the REV and it will eventually battle the second-generation Lightning, which will be a range-extended pickup as well.
That brings us to our question of the day, should GM follow in the footsteps of Ford and Ram?
The numbers don’t paint a pretty picture as Chevrolet only delivered 9,379 Silverado EVs in the first nine months of the year. The GMC Sierra EV found 6,147 takers, so their combined total is 15,526 units. That’s a far cry from Ford’s 23,034 and the math ain’t mathing.
However, GM also has the Hummer EV pickup and SUV. Buyers snapped up 13,233 units in the first nine months of the year, making these variants relatively popular.
Streamline or Stall?
While killing off all these models would be a bit extreme, axing the Sierra EV could make a lot of sense. While it’s arguably the best looking and the model with the nicest interior, it’s a weak link in terms of sales. It also has to compete in the same showrooms as the Hummers.
On top of that, rumors have suggested GM has been considering streamlining their electric truck lineup. The news was broken by the Wall Street Journal in November, which was also right about the F-150 Lightning.
At the time, a GM spokesperson told the publication there weren’t any current plans to change its product lineup or overall direction. They added the company was making progress in reducing costs associated with producing electric pickups.
That’s all well and good, but if there’s no demand, there’s no reason to be building electric pickups. GM has already acknowledged this, to a degree, as they pushed back plans to turn Orion Assembly into an electric truck hub. The automaker then abandoned those plans altogether to build gas-powered full-size trucks and SUVs starting in early 2027.
With all that being said, should GM throw in the towel on electric trucks or should they just axe one or two slow selling models?