Ford, GM Plan To Beat Tesla To Market With All-Electric Pickup Truck

With Tesla (TSLA) announcing that its all-electric pickup truck will debut in November, Ford (F) and GM (GM) are beefing up their electric truck strategy as they look to beat Elon Musk’s company to the finish line.

For Ford, the F-150 pickup truck holds the No. 1 spot in the market category followed by Dodge’s Ram and then Chevy’s Silverado. An electrified version of the F-150 is under development at Ford, which the company has teased its strength and capacity along the way.

Ford said it will have invested $11.5 billion into electrifying vehicles by 2022 and will have 16 fully electric models within the same timeframe, Reuters reported.

Ford has also partnered with electric truck maker Rivian and is said to reportedly release an SUV before a pickup truck with the company. Ford made a $500 million investment into Rivian that could be driving its charge to be first with an all-electric truck.

“Our strategy is very clear,” Ted Cannis, Ford’s director of electrification, told the news outlet. “We’re going to play to our strengths. We’re good at pickups.”

GM, on the other hand, has pulled out of the hybrid business to focus solely on electric vehicles with an electric full-size pickup expected to arrive at some point from the automaker, GM CEO Mary Barra told Reuters.

GM reportedly plans to invest $8 billion to develop electric and self-driving vehicles with plans to launch 20 new EV models by 2023 worldwide. An electric pickup truck is anticipated to arrive within two years, multiple sources told Reuters.

For Tesla, the electric truck unveiling is said to mix the performance of a Porsche 911 with a “cyberpunk” truck, according to Musk. Analysts have reportedly predicted a 2022 release of the truck with Ford and GM also expected to release their pickups the same year, the news outlet said.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles reportedly has no current plans to electrify the Dodge Ram.

Shares of Ford stock were up 0.90 percent as of 2:32 p.m. ET on Friday while shares of GM stock were down 0.27 percent and shares of Tesla stock were