mobile-menu-icon
GM Authority

GM Planning $200M EV Parts Plant In Auburn Hills, Michigan

As part of its aggressive expansion into electric vehicles, GM plans to fund a $200 million EV component supply facility in Auburn Hills, Michigan to provide the nearby GM Orion Assembly plant with parts.

The chosen 873-acre site housed the Palace of Auburn Hills, previously home to the Detroit Pistons, according to an article in Crain’s Detroit Business, before the sports arena was demolished in 2020 after the Pistons moved elsewhere.

An assembly line at a GM plant.

GM will present full details of its project to the Auburn Hills Planning Commission on Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023, though The General submitted draft plans for its new plant to the city government of Auburn Hills in late spring 2022, roughly 12 months ago.

Construction workers are expected to break ground on the new EV part facility in July 2023 and complete the work by November 2024. The facility will include 1.1 million square feet of floor space. Three eight-hour shifts of approximately 350 workers each will give the site a total workforce of more than 1,000 employees and keep the assembly lines running 24 hours per day.

GM will not actually own the site, but will lease it from the current owners, Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores and commercial real estate firm Schostak Brothers & Company, the latter headquartered in Livonia, Michigan. Schostak Brothers will oversee the construction while GM supplies the $200 million investment needed to develop the site for EV parts manufacturing.

A worker completing components at a GM production facility.

The Auburn Hills plant will manufacture components specifically for EV pickup trucks, according to GM representative Maria Raynal. GM is investing $6.5 billion in GM Orion Assembly and GM’s Lansing Delta Township Assembly facility, transforming the region into a “hub” for EV production.

While Chevy Silverado EV pickups will initially be produced at Factory Zero in Detroit-Hamtramck, GM plans to build both the electric Silverado and the GMC Sierra EV at Orion Assembly. The Auburn Hills plant will be a nearby facility providing some of the necessary parts for GM’s planned expanded production of EV trucks.

At the same time as significant Silverado EV and Sierra EV production is set to kick off, GM has decided to end production of its entry-level Chevy Bolt EV and Chevy Bolt EUV models. Both the Bolt EV and Bolt EUV are currently made at Orion Assembly, so discontinuing these vehicles will enable retooling the facility for EV pickup production.

An assembly line at a GM Chevrolet plant.

GM received in excess of 170,000 orders for the Chevy Silverado EV as of October 2022. The 2024 Chevy Silverado EV 3WT and 4WT trims will go into production at Factory Zero at some time in 2023. The lower-end trims will be introduced at a later date. It isn’t known yet if all trim levels will eventually be produced at Orion Assembly or if some will only be built at Factory Zero.

As a reminder, GM builds the Chevy Silverado EV on its latest all-electric BT1 platform, the same underpinnings used for the GMC Hummer EV and GMC Sierra EV. The GM Ultium battery technology and GM Ultium Drive motor technology provide power, with as much as 400 miles range available on a single charge.

Subscribe to GM Authority for more GM investment news, Chevy Silverado EV news, Chevy Silverado news, Chevy news, GM EV news, and around-the-clock General Motors news coverage.

Subscribe to GM Authority

For around-the-clock GM news coverage

We'll send you one email per day with the latest GM news. It's totally free.

Comments

  1. I bet that site cost them a bundle. Right off of I-75 and in the middle of a big group of parts companies.
    Big problem is that the last thing that area needs is more traffic. Even with 4 lanes each way its crazy backed up at rush hours.

    Reply
  2. I find it interesting that GM yet again continues to go all in on EVs now building a parts plant. They are so far behind in fulfilling ICE orders blaming the lack of parts are the issues for the delays. Well, why not invest in building facilities to produce those parts? Because they are phasing out ICE vehicles and believe the consumer is going to buy an EV or be mandated to buy an EV. The consumer will decide what type of vehicle to buy not GM or our government. If you want to invest in a business that will make you a lot of money for at least the next 25 years invest in ICE maintenance, parts, and repair.

    Reply
    1. Yes, that will likely be my next venture to extend the lives of ICE vehicles and re-work the remaining new HD ICE vehicles for greater fuel efficiency for people who want an ICE pickup that gets decent mileage. My free red state has no vehicle emissions testing so there shouldn’t be any limits to allowing people to drive what they want.

      Reply
  3. My take is that at least GM is Building Something, Anything. I am guessing they forced retiring Steve and Rory due to too many lies.

    Since my order was for a Lyriq EV how in Blazes can they run out of Blue Paint for over a year and make mine (only 3 weeks ago) Black when the VIN proves that mine was the 3000th vehicle only. The other 17,000 that gm bragged to the media was just vaporware.

    ICE guys think they aren’t making ice’s due to electrics, but they REALLY aren’t making much of any kinds of vehicles.

    If it has A 1200 cc engine from Korea, Those cars are available.

    I like my car somewhat better now that I’ve driven it 320 miles today.

    Reply

Leave a comment

Cancel