The waiting list for General Motors Co.
GM,
new GMC Hummer electric pickup truck and related SUV model recently topped 77,000 prospective buyers. Most are likely in for a long wait.
GM’s renovated Detroit factory, where about 700 workers build the Hummer, has been producing around a dozen of the trucks a day, people familiar with the matter said. That pace is unusually slow for a vehicle in production for more than six months, manufacturing consultants say, and trails rival offerings from Ford Motor Co.
F,
and Rivian Automotive Inc.
RIVN,
Hummer production at GM’s Factory Zero, which underwent a $2.2 billion overhaul to build electric trucks, is on plan, a company spokesman said. The ramp-up has been slower than normal in part because the truck was developed from scratch using a new electric-vehicle platform. GM wants to ensure quality as it introduces the new technology, he said.
Output will increase sharply in the second half of the year, he said, largely because GM by late summer expects to begin using its own battery cells from a new factory in Ohio that it built with its joint-venture partner, South Korea’s LG Energy Solution. The Hummers built so far have used outsourced LG cells.
An expanded version of this story appears on WSJ.com.
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