While most manufacturers seem to be taking a “wait and see” attitude about fallout from President Donald Trump‘s tariffs, GM appears to be taking steps to significantly increase U.S. domestic production of certain vehicle models.
In a CNBC interview with Phil LeBeau, GM CEO Mary Barra says the GM Fort Wayne assembly plant in Indiana will produce 50,000 more trucks each year, as you can see in the following video:
Barra specifically mentioned “trucks,” indicating the popular, high-volume Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup nameplates specifically. Approximately 260,000 units in total rolled off the Fort Wayne assembly line in 2024, meaning that volume could theoretically grow to about 300,000 trucks during the 2025 calendar year.
Mary Barra seemed quite optimistic about the situation. While not providing ironclad answers to certain questions, she said that General Motors expects about $4 billion to $5 billion of “tariff exposure” from the duties enacted by the Trump administration. She says the automaker plans to “offset” the impact by “making a commitment that we are going to bring more production back to this country to build on what we already have.”
Without getting pinned down on specifics, the GM CEO said that more announcements will follow on U.S. production. She also said that The General has been working to increase its U.S. supply base since 2019, boosting the amount of parts made within America’s borders by 27 percent since then. As a result of this strategy, 80 percent of components used in U.S.-assembled vehicles are already USMCA compliant, “with the lion’s share being in the U.S.” Only 3 percent of these parts come from China, greatly reducing any impact of tariffs applied to Chinese auto components.
Barra expressed agreement with President Trump’s policy objectives, remarking “I share the President’s goal to have a strong manufacturing base in this country to increase manufacturing jobs in this country.” She added, “I think it’s important from an economic security perspective as well as a national security perspective and to give us a level playing field.”
Stating that it has been “decades” that the auto industry hasn’t had a level playing field, Barra said that GM will “leverage that footprint that we have” of more than 50 industrial facilities in the U.S. to rapidly increase the automaker’s production. She says expanding production at existing facilities will improve efficiency “and allow us to do this more quickly than if we were to start with a greenfield.”
When questioned about prices, she said GM does not plan significant price increases as a result of the Trump tariffs. She says that “right now, as we look going forward, we think the pricing environment is going to be much where it is right now.” The CEO concluded her remarks by comparing GM’s “competitive” and “disciplined” approach to pricing favorably to what “others” are doing.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has taken some steps to soften the impact of his tariffs on the U.S. auto sector, a critical part of the economy. GM has revised its guidance but does not plan to move EV production to the U.S. from Mexico. The new guidance sees EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) being in the range of $10 billion to $12.5 billion in 2025, rather than the previously forecast $13.7 billion to $15.7 billion, to take into account the aforementioned $4 billion to $5 billion in tariff exposure.
It’s unclear if the Oshawa plant in Canada, the Silao plant in Mexico, or both, will see their production decrease to offset the production increase at Fort Wayne. Both plants currently produce variants of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, with Oshawa building HD variants as well.
Comments
Again, producing more full-size pickups on the brink of recession is just plain stupid. Even if those units are replacing ones made outside the US. Folks are buying them in mass quantities right now, to beat tariffs, but many will be repoed when jobs are lost. Pure stupidity also. I saw this first hand selling Chevys from 2006-2009 and it was ugly. Folks buy one day and turn them in 3 months later.
@ Beachy
I think it’s great they are producing more here in the United States. I do agree with the recession part, but that’s not all Trumps fault! This has been “looming” for about a year or so! The economy can not sustain itself at the prices they were at from 2021 to current! There has to be a reset done to try and get this taken care of.
When a WT Silverado costs less than a Camry, it’s a very smart move. They can easily just make cheaper models. Trucks have gotten expensive for 2 reasons, 1, people have moved towards trucks away from luxury vehicles, hence tons of high country/Denali trims at 6 figure prices,
2, have you priced a sedan recently? A Corolla? Corollas used to be a 12K car, now their approaching 30, or just a smidge cheaper than a stripped Silverado. It’s not a bad move maxing production on your most “economies of scale” model. Not only do I disagree your analysis that a recession is coming, but point out your lack of comprehension on this as part of your lack of foresight.
Beachy . YAK YAK YAK . Why is it all you do is complain.? BUTT never offer any proof.
Buy one day turn them in 3 months later.?? Show us the stats. Maybe they lost there jobs because of people who sell don*t sell enough to keep they people employed. Always blame others when they are part of the problem. STUPIDOOOOO????
Good for Ft. Wayne, good for the United States. It’s a shame it takes the threat of tariffs to curtail Barra’s off shoring, out sourcing business model.
THIS IS M@G@,
THIS IS WINNING
THIS IS TRUST POTUS.
C’mon Steve, let’s not get crazy. I wouldn’t trust that overweight, orange-a-tang, felon as far as I could throw him. Hell, I could barely drag him!
Trumps first term in office did more for my paycheck than any president since bush ! Then came the plandemic and bidenomics which totally destroyed the US economy its going to take more than 100 days to fix this mess !
Het Mary how about building some sedans with ICE ( that buyers want like Honda , Toyota, bmw, vw, Mercedes, in those plants .
GM Oshawa in Canada announced cutting 1 shift in the Fall of 2025. Fort Wayne is where this production will be shifted to. This will result in 700+ jobs being eliminated. Barra caving to Trump. Sad.
Wow, so there is extra capacity available in gm US plants as hundreds of thousands of vehicles are produced at less than $7 an hour in gm plants in Mexico, South Korea & even communist China?
I lost my Ford Visteon job to NAFTA in 2006. When Ford announced they were changing the name to Visteon we ALL knew we were screwed. 1 year later they spun us off. 4 years later they shut the plant down & Ford went to Mexico to get their parts. Over 1000 people lost their jobs with no transfers. Ross Perot warned us all what would happen. Now is the time for reckoning!!!!!