GM shares hit new record on plans for electric Chevy Silverado pickup

DETROIT — Shares of General Motors closed at a new record Tuesday after the automaker confirmed plans to produce an all-electric Chevrolet Silverado pickup at an assembly plant for EVs that’s under construction in Detroit.

The automaker’s stock closed up 1.5% at $61.94 a share, setting a new closing record, after hitting an intraday high of $63.44 earlier Tuesday. Both the closing and intraday prices were all-time records since the automaker emerged from bankruptcy at the tail end of the Great Recession and started publicly trading again in 2010. GM’s market cap is $89.25 billion.

The performance of GM’s stock this year, up roughly 50%, has been driven by a steady array of announcements related to electric vehicles. It’s also validating comments made last month by GM CEO Mary Barra about the stock’s future potential.

“I think as the market begins to see all of the assets and resources General Motors brings to this transformation, I think we’re just at the beginning of where you’ll see GM’s stock move,” she said in an online discussion March 11 during The Economic Club of New York’s Women in Business event.

The electric Silverado is part of a previously announced $2.2 billion investment in the plant to produce an array of its next-generation EVs beginning later this year with an all-electric GMC Hummer pickup. Other planned vehicles for the facility include the recently unveiled Hummer EV SUV and an autonomous multi-passenger shuttle known as the Cruise Origin.

Confirmation of the Silverado EV came days after the automaker unveiled a new SUV version of its upcoming GMC Hummer EV.

Earlier this year, the company also announced a new all-electric commercial vehicle division called BrightDrop. It also announced plans to exclusively offer electric vehicles by 2035.

The new vehicles are part of GM’s plan to release 30 new EVs globally by 2025 under a $27 billion investment in electric and autonomous vehicles during that time frame. The company plans to sell at least 1 million EVs annually by then.