GM Manufacturing Exec VP Says No Plants Opened Or Closed During EV Transition

GM is planning to launch 30 new all-electric models by the 2025 calendar year, as well as fully transition its light-duty vehicle lineup to battery-driven powertrains by 2035. Naturally, those goals will necessitate support from a broad production base. However, one GM executive recently indicated that The General does not plan to open or close any plants as it transitions to EVs.

According to a recent report from Automotive News, GM’s executive vice president of global manufacturing and sustainability, Gerald Johnson, indicated that GM plans to only leverage its existing manufacturing facilities in the transition to EVs, with some plants converted to produce only electric vehicles, and other plants producing both electric vehicles and internal combustion vehicles in parallel.

At the same time, Johnson left some wiggle room for adjustment on the table.

“Right now, we believe we have the right bandwidth to support the balance,” Johnson said. “It’s not a perfect science. Forecasting has one promise – that it’ll be wrong. The question is, can you adjust as it goes?”

Johnson added that GM would remain flexible, saying that the “[the transition to EVs] is still going to happen over time.”

GM’s first all-electric plant, the GM Factory Zero facility in Michigan, was previously known as the GM Detroit-Hamtramck plant, and now produces the GMC Hummer EV Pickup and Hummer EV SUV, with the new Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV set to start rolling off the line soon. Additionally, new EV pickups will be built at GM’s Orion Assembly facility following the discontinuation of the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV, while the all-electric Cadillac Lyriq crossover is built at the GM Spring Hill facility in Tennessee alongside the internal-combustion-powered Cadillac XT5 and Cadillac XT6 crossovers. In addition, the GM CAMI plant in Ontario now exclusively manufactures the BrightDrop Zevo 600 delivery van.

Earlier this week, GM announced that it was investing more than $1 billion into two Flint-area manufacturing facilities in support of the internal-combustion-powered Chevy Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD pickups.

“I’m sure we will do more all-EV plants, but we assess every plant based on its infrastructure and what it can handle and what we can convert, [refurbish] or maybe even just expand slightly so that we can accommodate what we need for EV production and for ICE production,” Johnson told Automotive News.

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