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Small pickup trucks have proven to be successful for Ford and Hyundai in the United States, and General Motors is looking to get a piece of that pie too.
The automaker announced it is considering an all-electric two-door pickup smaller than the Ford Maverick and the Hyundai Santa Cruz. Envisioned as part of the carmaker’s lineup of affordable EVs priced under $30,000, the small truck would have a 4- to 4.5-foot-long (1.2-1.37-meter-long) bed and low roofline.
The automaker has shown a prototype of the mini truck to reporters at its affordable EV design studio in Warren, Michigan. Automotive News has seen the vehicle and describes it as “futuristic and sporty.” The name, brand or production timeline for the small truck are still being kept under wraps. That said, Chevrolet looks like the ideal brand for such a model.
While GM did not provide a photo of the truck, marketing images behind the pickup showed customers using it for recreational activities, such as surfing.
“We’re creating these to get a reaction and then to try to modify it or move on. What does work? What doesn’t work? What’s expected? Affordability is the key portion of this, and there’s lots of different ways to approach it.”
Michael Pevovar, director of Chevrolet affordable EV and crossover design
19 Photos
The executive added that General Motors plans to rely heavily on customer feedback as it designs and engineers affordable EVs. The automaker is considering an entire line of affordable EVs, and the baby pickup is just one of them.
Pevovar reckoned the truck may be too small for some buyers, and if that’s the feedback returned by customers, GM could be able to make it a little bigger by shifting it to another architecture.
If GM’s electric pickup comes to market, it could rival the gas-powered Maverick and Santa Cruz, but it would have no direct two-door competitor – the Ford and Hyundai have four doors.
US customers tend to favor four doors and a backseat for passengers or cargo, so it remains to be seen whether a two-seat pickup without a full bed would appeal in the world’s largest pickup truck market.
Ford sold 74,370 Mavericks in the US last year, and Hyundai sold 36,480 Santa Cruz models, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center.
