BrightDrop electric van key to GM’s financial goals

The BrightDrop Zevo 600 began production last week at the CAMI plant, which hosted an event with GM President Mark Reuss, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario provincial officials and Unifor leaders. GM invested close to $800 million to retool CAMI, which previously built the gasoline-powered Chevrolet Equinox.

Production of the smaller Zevo 400 will begin in the fourth quarter of next year, Hornyak said.

Last year, BrightDrop started low-volume production of the Zevo 600 in Michigan while retooling the CAMI plant. Reuss last week called BrightDrop “the fastest product launch in our history, from concept to commercialization in less than two years.”

The brand recently expanded its customer base into Canada, signing logistics company DHL Express Canada to use Zevo vans in its fleet starting early in 2023. Hornyak told Automotive News “there is market pull outside of North America,” but BrightDrop is focused on this market initially.

It hasn’t named additional U.S. dealerships beyond its first, BrightDrop Greater Los Angeles, in Fontana, Calif. The store is owned by Chevrolet-Buick-GMC dealer Mike Caposio. Additional dealerships will follow demand, based on where BrightDrop customers choose to deploy the vans, Hornyak said.