GM doesn’t think it would sell enough Ford F-150 Raptor competitors to make it worth the investment.
Times are tough for the Bow Tie crowd lately, with the Camaro on the verge of discontinuation, the Blazer coming back as a Camaro-like crossover, and the Silverado ZR2 launching as a purported Ford F-150 Raptor rival that has not one single horsepower more than a regular, 6.2-liter V8 equipped model. Yes, GM fans have long pined for a proper Ford F-150 Raptor alternative, at the very least, and yet, the automaker refuses to heed that call. Now, the folks at GM Authority have found out why that’s the case.
As many are already aware, building something as tall and wide as the F-150 Raptor requires a bit of retooling on the assembly line, and that’s precisely what Ford had to do. In fact, since the all-new, third-generation model is now available with 37-inch tires, Ford had to tweak its line even more to accommodate those massive pieces of rubber. GM apparently doesn’t want to make that kind of investment or add complexity to its assembly process in a time when production is challenged to begin with, it seems.
More importantly, the automaker doesn’t believe that it will sell enough proper prospective Raptor-like Silverado pickups to make it worth their while, which is a curious thought given how wildly popular the F-150 Raptor has been over the past decade-plus. Folks are clamoring for off-road-focused trucks, particularly high-performance ones, but GM doesn’t think it will sell enough of them to turn a profit, it seems.
Then there’s the matter of asset allocation – GM currently has a ton of money tied up in EVs and EV battery production, leaving little change for the development of some gas-hungry high-performance pickup. Then again, one can say that same thing about Ford, which is sinking $50 billion into EVs between now and 2026.
Regardless, GM seems content peddling the Silverado ZR2 – which has some nice equipment but lags far behind its rivals in terms of power, and costs just as much as an F-150 Raptor to boot. Only time will tell if that’s the right decision, but for now, GM’s refusal to compete with Ford on that level – as well as its refusal to build a proper Bronco competitor – just seems like a head scratching decision to us.