General Motors has started construction on a new body shop area on the grounds of its Spring Hill Assembly plant in Tennessee.
GM announced last year that it would pour $2 billion into the Spring Hill Assembly plant in order to transform the facility into an electric vehicle production plant. The first EV to be produced at Spring Hill will be the Cadillac Lyriq, which is expected to go on sale sometime in early 2022.
GM says the new, 324,000 square foot body shop will produce “major sheet metal components,” (ie. body panels) for the Cadillac Lyriq. The shop will also house new tooling, equipment and automation technology to help facilitate the production of the battery-powered crossover.
“Steel construction for a new body shop is underway at the General Motors Spring Hill Complex in Tennessee,” the automaker said in a press release. “With this effort, the assembly plant begins the transition to become the company’s third vehicle manufacturing site to produce electric vehicles, joining Factory Zero in Detroit, Michigan, and Orion Assembly in Orion Township, Michigan.”
Jeff Lamarche, plant executive director at Spring Hill Assembly, says the Cadillac Lyriq will be “the first of many EVs,” that will be produced at the plant. The 7.9 million square foot facility currently produces the Cadillac XT5 and XT6, as well as the GMC Acadia. Going forward, Spring Hill will simultaneously produce both traditionally powered internal combustion engine vehicles and EVs.
“These investments underscore the success of our vehicles today, and our vision of an all-electric future,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement previously.
The Cadillac Lyriq will ride on GM’s new BEV3 dedicated electric vehicle platform and will leverage its proprietary Ultium battery technology and new Ultium Drive electric motors. Pricing is expected to start at under $60,000 for the base model.
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Comment
I would like to visit that plant when it begins assembly of the first Cadillac Lyriq. I wish to buy one but I want to see how it is built before buying.