General Motors To Invest $7 Bln In Michigan Electric Vehicle Facilities

(RTTNews) - General Motors (GM) announced on Tuesday that it would be investing a sum of $7 billion in four manufacturing facilities in the state of Michigan, thus making the state the "hub" of electric vehicle development and manufacturing.

The automaker announced that it would spend $2.6 billion to build a new battery factory in the Lansing area and another $4 billion to convert its existing factory in Orion Township to make electric pickups. GM will also spend about half a billion dollars to upgrade its two existing vehicle assembly plants in Lansing.

The company has called it the "single largest investment announcement in GM history,", commenting that the investment will lead to 4000 jobs and help retain around 1,000 other jobs. At present, GM employs around 50,631 people in Michigan.

Commenting on the developments, GM CEO Mary Barra said, "We are building on the positive consumer response and reservations for our recent EV launches and debuts, including GMC Hummer EV, Cadillac Lyriq, Chevrolet Equinox EV and Chevrolet Silverado EV. Our plan creates the broadest EV portfolio of any automaker and further solidifies our path toward U.S. EV leadership by mid-decade."

As part of the announcement, GM said Orion Assembly, along with Factory ZERO in Detroit and Hamtramck, will manufacture the 2024 Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV pickups. The company said that it is working to build a new, more reliable supply chain through strategic supplier agreements for batteries and EV components. It is expected to be scalable, more resilient, more sustainable and more North American focused. Global supply chain issues have hindered GM and other automakers throughout the pandemic.

Orion Assembly and the new battery cell plant will support total production of 600,000 full-size electric pickups when both Factory ZERO and Orion are fully producing in a few years, said GM President Mark Reuss, adding there will be "operational upside at both plants. Look for us to keep growing the capacity at Factory ZERO as well."

Reuss said the company's investment in Michigan made sense because GM has many long-standing partnerships with suppliers based in the state and has worked with local governments for various financial incentives.