Gm hopes to follow Tesla's product strategy by prioritizing electric vehicles at the high end of the market for higher profit returns.

According to Reuters, GENERAL Motors plans to build a range of electric pickup trucks and SUVs at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which could allow the company to roll out electric models far beyond expectations.

The project, known inside GM as the "BT1 Program," includes an electric pickup truck for the GMC brand and an all-electric SUV for Cadillac, both due out in 2023. Before that, another as-yet-unnamed small electric pickup truck will go into production in late 2021.

Several reports have suggested that GM is likely to use the opportunity to revive the Hummer brand, but no final decision has been made.

BT1's planned pickups and SUVs will use a dedicated electric vehicle production architecture, and the plant is expected to produce about 80,000 electric vehicles a year when it is fully operational in 2024. Reuters cited an industry expert's prediction that GM could sell Cadillac's electric SUV for at least $90,000, while other vehicles could sell for a little more than $100,000.

Gm is understood to want to follow Tesla's product strategy by prioritizing electric vehicles at the high end of the market, because the profits generated by these high-priced new cars could help the company accelerate its pace of profitability.

In an internal report about four weeks ago, GM only mentioned information about electrifying some pickup trucks, but the proposal has been circulating in the industry since at least January. During contract negotiations with the United Workers union for the next four years, GM had promised $7bn in new investments, including electric pickups in Detroit, followed by planned battery production at its Lordstown, Ohio, plant.

As of now, GM would not comment in detail on the information contained in the report, but they told Reuters and other outlets that the company is committed to an electrified future and is making great progress in doing so. "We have announced that pickups will be part of our future portfolio, but we don't have a lot of details yet."

In the US state of Michigan, start-up Rivian is also developing electric pickups and SUVs using funds from Ford and Amazon, and GM's main RIVAL in the US, Ford, will also develop its own electric models on Rivian's platform and may manufacture them at the start-up.