General Motors has been approved for a tax abatement as it plans to invest $1.3 billion in its Lake Orion Assembly plant to build electric vehicles there.
City officials in Orion Township approved the tax abatement for GM on Tuesday, which will grant tax-free status to the property for 12 years plus an additional three years during the construction phase. According to The Detroit News, which viewed GM’s tax abatement application previously, construction work on the Lake Orion plant is expected to commence in July.
GM spokesman Dan Flores told The Detroit News the tax abatement helps GM form a viable business case for producing EVs at the Michigan plant, although the automaker has yet to make a final decision on whether or not it will go ahead with the investment.
“GM sincerely appreciates the support the Orion Township Board of Trustees showed by approving our tax abatement application this evening,” Fores said. “Securing all available tax incentives plays a critical role in any business case moving forward. Approving our tax incentive application is certainly a positive step forward, however, the proposed project is not approved. I’m not going to speculate on GM leadership making a final determination on the business case under development.”
Sources familiar with GM’s plans told The Detroit News the automaker plans to produce electric trucks at the Lake Orion Assembly plant, which currently produces the Chevy Bolt EV and Chevy Bolt EUV. The automaker will produce the GMC Hummer EV Pickup and Hummer EV SUV, along with the Chevy Silverado EV, at the Factory Zero plant in nearby Detroit-Hamtramck, so it’s not clear which truck it allegedly has planned for Lake Orion. The renovation work is expected to retain or create up to 2,000 jobs at the Orion Township facility.
GM also recently received a tax break from the nearby city of Lansing in Michigan to construct a new battery plant on a 529-acre plot of land within the municipality. The project would cost “up to or more than,” $2.5 billion and would create roughly 750 full-time jobs when completed at the end of 2025, public records indicate. The proposed Lansing battery plant would be close by the GM Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant, which currently builds the Chevy Camaro, along with the Cadillac CT4 and Cadillac CT5. GM is also currently building two separate battery plants in Lordstown, Ohio and Spring Hill, Tennessee.
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Comments
Yep, plus we need more mines to get the materials for the battery builds. But then again maybe China will help us. LOL
I bet 1.3 billion won’t pay the salaries of the top 10 GM executives over those 15 years.
I remember the good old days when the Orion plant was cranking out Sonics that were gaining valuable market share from Toyota and Honda…
It’s a shame to see money getting thrown away on a inevitable failing money grab for specialty niche vehicles that only appeal to like 5% of the the market… What is gm doing, are they trying to fail?
The Spark? If not, what needs to be different about it for you? or generally? The segments were sliced too thin before. They used to have 5 fwd based cars. The bigger loss is no compact.
The Spark is substantially smaller than the Sonic… A Sonic hatchback is a much more refined vehicle than the Spark, especially at highway speeds. The Sonic was classified as a B segment technically… But it was realistically one of the first subcompact+ sized vehicles. I would also like for it to be an ICE vehicle manufactured in the US. The Trailblazer is close to the perfect size for me, but something about the way the 1.3t jives with the 9spd is just not enjoyable. I much prefer the driving experience of the Toyota Corolla hatch or Mazda3 hatch of the Trailblazer.
I should’ve bought a Sonic years ago as a no-nonsense buy, kind of a way to get a fresh SL1 Saturn. I haven’t test driven a 9-speed yet. Does Orion still have tiered wages? That’s probably the only shot that class gets built here. The others are one size up either way, Trailblazer, Corolla hatch,Mazda3.
Short-body hatches are a tough sell here. Aero-hatch bodies like Prius or Civic hatch are the better play, since trunk openings shrunk. If GM gets back into volume small cars, priority should go to making interiors people like, reliability at a better price than Honda/Toyota. Not trying to apologize for gm too much.
Did feel like you were apologizing for them… It’s just frustrating because the Cruze/Sonic did compete very well with Toyota and Honda, but Mary let it rot on the vine while trying to chase profits, there seems to be long-term balance to her planning.
My UAW built 1.4t 6mt Sonic has been absolutely rock solid. Cost of ownership has been next to nothing through 160k miles. No battery fires, no software updates, no special planning for trips, just get in a drive. Such a shame that when the time comes to replace it with something that fits my needs it will probably have to be a Toyota or Honda.
This is exactly gm’s problem rn, as they continue to hemorrhage market share in the B/C segment. Nbd, other companies will gladly take the business.
Didn’t feel like you were apologizing for them*
I don’t think they have a deep understanding of people relating to their vehcles. That goes back before Barra.
Screw the metrics they measure by.
A difference for me is having no faith in keeping up to date. I don’t bemoan ablity to profit. Did my (Lordstown) Cruze need AL knuckles and arms or any tech features? No. Does high mpg have a point of diminished returns, and did my pollution control systems fail? Yeah. I stll consider it a decent car. But a good buddy of mine bought a Hyundai for as his first new car, after 5 used GMs. the worst thing Barra has said was, “No more crappy cars”. They really weren’t.
Trax sales
2014 739
2015 63,030
2016 79,016
2017 79,289
2018 89,917
2019 116,817
2020 106,299. De Kia is better..🙂
Sonic sales
Year
2011 15,778
2012 89,147
2013 85,376
2014 93,518
2015 64,775
2016 55,255
2017 30,290
2018 20,613
2019 13,970
The funny thing is Trax was never meant to be a USDM vehicle until the last moment, keep the narrative that everyone wanted a Sonic. If anything Chevy for ICE cars should offer Monza for compact and An Alpha based sedan for fullsize..
You should really group the Sonic and Cruze sales together, since they originally shared many of the same parts and development… If you were to do that I think you would find that the combined sales numbers were nothing to scoff at. In fact, combined they outsold the Corolla, until gm went lowercase and let this products rot with no new development…. Shifting focus to the self destructing Bolt nobody wants.
GM went “lowercase” in ’19, the Sonic was history before then because people wasn’t buying them like the dearly departed Yaris and Fit and barely share parts with Cruze, Cruze sells well in China and S/A therefore still on sale. Subcompact CUVs are the entry market champs as said the best thing they can do for small cars is make the Monza/Cavalier available here since it’s already built in Mexico and enhance the Spark.
lol you don’t actually know what youre talking about, or how to say it…
Translation…De Kia is better..😏
Bye-bye Bolt. Especially if gm starts making trucks at Orion. The 2022 Bolt may become a collectors item as not many of them were manufactured. I’ll bet a lot of them will be around a lot longer then people think.