As GM Authority reported in January 2024, the GM Lake Orion plant in Michigan is due for a massive expansion that will likely serve to support electric vehicle production. Now, General Motors automotive metal supplier Gestamp has announced that it is planning to construct a new facility near the Orion plant.
According to a report from Crain’s Detroit Business, the Spanish supplier currently has plans to build a 460,000-square-foot plant in Macomb County. This facility would employ 390 workers and feed material directly to the Orion plant.
It’s worth noting that the site plan – which has already been submitted to the township – has provisions for a future 300,000-square-foot expansion.
Pre-development work is already under way, and received planning commission approval back in late Summer 2023. However, the plans must still pass an engineering review and obtain a building permit. Once completed, the facility will feature up to 450,000 square-feet of manufacturing and warehouse space, plus another 10,000 square-feet for office space. Notably, construction is currently expected to be completed by early 2025.
It is estimated that this construction project will cost Gestamp approximately $42.5 million.
In other Orion plant-related developments, The General announced back in October 2023 that production of the Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV at the facility had been postponed to late 2025. While the automaker said the extra downtime will be used to implement engineering improvements to increase product profitability, this could also indicate that EV production and the subsequent demand isn’t quite as robust as some may believe.
This delay in production may raise questions as to why General Motors has opted to increase production capacity at the facility in the first place, as it stated that this move was done to allow the Detroit-based automaker to “better manage capital investment while aligning with evolving EV demand.” However, the Lake Orion facility has received a number of investments in the past, including a $6.5 billion financing effort back in 2022.
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Comments
And this is how you.get by paying the UAW 50$/hr to turn screws. Hestamp will pay illegals 5$/hr to make the parts GM’s robots will construct.
I’m sure gm is reviewing its EV plans for several plants (as is Ford). Orion may get ICE and hybrid vehicles along with the EVs. The execs at Ford and GM are sweating bullets over the fact that EV demand is nowhere near what was projected.
If it doesn’t kill you , it will make you stronger !
GM used to produce most of everything. Now the sub out most of everything !
I work at a GM foundry. We make lots of Ford castings and Chrysler castings. Look at us now. Just wait the prices are going to drop anytime now because of all of the lower cost labor and benefits they aren’t pay , right ?