GM has temporarily laid off around 100 workers at its components plant in Rochester, New York, as the automaker adjusts EV production volume at several other facilities. The New York facility employs roughly 600 workers total. Impacted employees were involved in manufacturing coolant lines for EV battery packs, parts which are no longer in demand due to production pauses at GM’s CAMI facility in Canada and the GM Factory Zero plant in Detroit. It’s unclear at this time if affected workers will be laid off indefinitely.
Per a report by local NBC News affiliate WHEC-TV, workers will be taken off the lines for roughly two weeks, although further developments are expected in the near future.
The layoffs are the result of production changes at several of the automaker’s EV facilities, including the GM CAMI plant in Canada, which handles production of the Chevy BrightDrop delivery vans. Production of the new BrightDrop units will be down for at least five months. Meanwhile, General Motors is also scaling back operations at its Factory Zero plant in Michigan, which produces the GMC Hummer EV, Chevy Silverado EV, and GMC Sierra EV.
Without continuing demand from these key EV production facilities, parts production at the Rochester plant has come to a standstill.
Per WHEC-TV, UAW Local 1097 President Dan Maloney states that many workers at the Rochester facility are concerned, noting that while company management says the shutdown is temporary, there’s growing unease that it may extend further than two weeks. Maloney cites shifting political policies as a contributing factor, with the new Trump administration deprioritizing EV expansion in favor of traditional internal combustion vehicles.
Despite its role in supporting EV production, the Rochester plant still dedicates roughly 60 percent of its output to parts for ICE-powered vehicles. Additionally, Maloney states that certain lines are capable of pivoting to new production, and that a forthcoming project involving updated ICE components is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2026, offering a potential lifeline for idled production lines.
In a statement, General Motors described the layoffs as tied to a “supply chain constraint,” adding that affected employees will be eligible for Short Work Week Benefits under the national UAW-GM agreement.
Comments
It’s time to wake up and smell the lack of practicality and interest in EVs.
“Despite its role in supporting EV production, the Rochester plant still dedicates roughly 60 percent of its output to parts for ICE-powered vehicles.”
60 is more than half, and an EV “slow down” despite GM having strong Y-O-Y gains doesn’t make up all of the production there… so. IDK.
In the heyday of the late 70’s to late 80’s Rochester had almost 8500 employees in that building.. Today it literally hangs on by a thread because the only profit in the building comes from truck intake manifolds. GM dumped over $60 million into cooling lines for batteries in that plant and now there’s “that much” equipment sitting idle. The EV financial disaster is all on the shoulders of Mary. Every CEO wants to leave a legacy and hers will be, “how I wasted billions to appease a president with zero cognitive abilities to look like a leader among my WOKE friends.”
Its way too easy to dump on GM management about their investment in EVs, when the real and continuing culprit is the EPA and CARB. If GM was not prepared to offer competitive ZEV EVs, betting or hoping that the laws and regulations (that are still in place) that would force them to would be repealed, GM would be forced to curtail sales of their ICE vehicles in order to hit the escalating % of ZEV sales requirementrs. It’s simple math; CARB (17 states have adopted) requires 35% of sales be ZEVs in the 2026 model year, at least 3 xs the actual current penetration. If the market isn’t there (and its not) the only way to meet the 35% is to sell less ICE vehicles. If you think Mary wants GM to sell no-profit EVs instead of cash-cow F/S pickups you are dumber than you think she is.
Thank you for your insight Bob. -Just to remind us that it’s always never ‘that simple’.
Anyone is business will tell you that being under-invested in “potential” sales numbers and then using profits from those initial sales to increase capacity, would have been a much more judicious plan that throwing billions against the wall, seeing how well EV sell and hoping that your spending adds up to profits. What about that plan wouldn’t have worked better? In a real company, the group that forecast 400K (I believe that the number Mary cited) in sales, would have been fired. But at GM, losing billions from bad ideas is just day to day business practice that continues decade after decade with no one held accountable.
Always some lame excuse with these idiots in the front office. They know most consumers are not interested in this EV garbage.
They should make Q Jets again.
Plenty more lay offs thanks to Donnie Trump