General Motors expected its electric pickups to sell, and so far they mostly have not. The Electric Viking runs through the numbers and the discounts now attached to them. The video reports Silverado EV sales fell 32.5 percent in the first half of the year, to 3,672 units, roughly 612 a month across the entire US. Sierra EV deliveries edged up 9.8 percent to 3,044, while the GMC Hummer EV dropped 55 percent to 3,601. Dealers are responding with real money off. The host cites discounts of up to $21,400 on 2024 Silverado EV models, which he says brings the entry price to $53,950, about $2,000 under the average US new-vehicle transaction price. Good trucks, he argues, selling badly, and priced now like something far more ordinary than a full-size electric pickup with real range and towing capacity.
GM is not alone in this. The electric full-size pickup, once forecast to be a volume category, has underperformed across the board. Ford has reportedly slowed F-150 Lightning production and cut its price as demand cooled, so GM's discounting fits a pattern rather than a one-off. The video's framing is that these are capable trucks selling poorly, and it points at the styling as a likely culprit, arguing the Silverado EV does not read as a traditional aggressive American pickup. For a buyer, the takeaway is opportunity. A full-size electric truck that can tow and costs far less to fuel, now selling below the average price of any new vehicle, is a genuine deal if the shape does not put you off. The host, based in Australia, notes there is no equivalent electric ute on sale there at all, and says he would happily take GM's discounted US stock if the brand shipped it over. He argues buyers there would clear the inventory at prices that look steep by American standards.
Added up, the video puts GM's three electric trucks at 10,317 sales for the period, and notes Chevy sold more than twice as many of its long-running Express vans over the same stretch. The host stresses the discounts vary by state and dealer. He cites McCarthy Chevrolet in Lee's Summit, Missouri, at around $15,000 off, and a Covert Buick GMC deal that brings a Sierra EV Elevation extended-range down to about $60,000 after $7,000 off, plus a roughly $10,500 discount at an Autonation Buick GMC in Corpus Christi. He prefers the GMC Sierra styling to the Silverado's. He also makes the running-cost case, putting comparable gas V8 pickups at 14 to 15 litres per 100 km, and says the electric versions still tow and haul without that fuel bill. On the Hummer EV, he calls the vehicle comically oversized and says he understands why it is not selling, even as it moved about as many units as the Silverado EV over the period. His broader point is that the discounts are less about the trucks being bad and more about supply outrunning demand, which is exactly the condition that produces a bargain for a patient buyer.
Bottom line: Slow sales are bad news for GM and good news for anyone who actually wants one of these trucks. A full-size electric pickup for around $54,000, or less once a state or dealer discount stacks on top, is a lot of capability for the money. The styling clearly is not landing with traditional truck buyers, and that is GM's problem to fix. If you are cross-shopping a gas Silverado or an F-150, the math on fuel alone is worth running before these deals dry up. Bargains this deep usually mean a new model year is coming, so time it.
Commentary on a third-party video. Figures and claims are as presented in the source and have not been independently verified. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it.