General Motors confirmed today it will invest $4 billion USD in its Orion Assembly plant in Michigan to produce the Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV.
The sizable investment will create more than 2,350 new jobs at the Orion Assembly plant and retain roughly 1,000 existing jobs at the facility, which currently produces the Chevy Bolt EV and Chevy Bolt EUV. Production of the Chevy Silverado EV and electric GMC Sierra will begin at the facility sometime in 2024.
“The Orion investment will drive significant facility and capacity expansion at the site, including new body and paint shops and new general assembly and battery pack assembly areas,” the automaker said in a statement.
Production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV will continue during the plant’s conversion, GM said. Work at the 4.3-million square foot site, which sits on 433 acres of land, is expected to begin immediately.
GM was expected to make an announcement regarding the Orion Assembly investment this week after it filed tax abatement requests with Orion Township earlier this month. Through the tax relief program, the city will grant tax-free status to Orion Assembly for a total of 12 years, plus an additional three years during the construction phase.
With this investment, Orion Assembly will become GM’s third plant capable of building EVs utilizing its Ultium dedicated EV platform. The first Ultium-ready plant, Factory Zero in nearby Detroit-Hamtramck, currently produces the GMC Hummer EV Pickup and will eventually add the GMC Hummer EV SUV and Cruise Origin to its roster, as well. The GM Spring Hill Assembly plant in Tennessee, meanwhile, is currently undergoing renovations to produce the Cadillac Lyriq electric crossover.
“Today we are taking the next step in our continuous work to establish GM’s EV leadership by making investments in our vertically integrated battery production in the U.S., and our North American EV production capacity,” Mary Barra, GM Chair and CEO, said in a prepared statement on Tuesday. “Our plan creates the broadest EV portfolio of any automaker and further solidifies our path toward U.S. EV leadership by mid-decade.”
Barra said its recent Michigan investments would not have been possible without support from Governor Gretchen Whitmer, along with Orion Township and the City of Lansing, which worked to grant GM tax incentives to help retain jobs in the state.
“These investments also create opportunities in Michigan for us to bring our employees along on our transition to an all-electric future,” she added.
The first Chevy Silverado EV and electric GMC Sierra EV models will roll off the line at Orion Assembly in early 2024.
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Comments
This is good, note GM is retaining it’s current smaller plants for ICE vehicles.
It seems as if a whole new assembly plant is being built at the Orion site.
Let’s see, GM has announced plants for producing the first of the Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillac EVs. What’s missing? Their other legacy, Buick. C’mon, GM, support all of your brands!
Christopher GM said it wants full scale EV production by 2035… According to my calendar it’s only 2022 they still have time to make a Buick EV… besides there was already a teaser concept Buick Electra which GM filed to trademark the Electra name. Another note it’s nice to see jobs here in the USA for building these EV vehicles…Good job GM
This signals the end of the Bolt at Orion. Producing pickups is where the money’s headed. No need to produce the Bolt with its outdated battery.