GM's Detroit plant is going all-electric starting next year

GM's Detroit plant is going all-electric starting next year

The Hamtramck facility is scheduled to build EV trucks and driverless vehicles

BY DAVID WELCH  | 21 HOURS AGO

Mark Reuss, General Motors president speaks at their Detroit- Hamtramck assembly plant on January 27, 2020 in Detroit, Michigan.

General Motors affirmed plans to build electric pickups and SUVs at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant and scheduled the start of production for late next year.

Output of electric Cruise Origin driverless vehicles will follow soon after the initial pickups roll off the line, GM said in a statement Monday.

The automaker committed to investing US $2.2 billion in the factory as part of the labor agreement reached last year with the United Auto Workers union.

GM’s investment – which will include another US $800 million on supplier tooling and projects related to the trucks – saves a factory that was marked for closure over a year ago. Detroit-Hamtramck will become GM’s second plant in Michigan making plug-in models as Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra bets on demand for electric vehicles that only Tesla has sold in significant volume thus far.

“It’s not if, it’s when,” GM President Mark Reuss said of EVs catching on with consumers. “Nothing happens by turning on a light switch, making vehicles and seeing consumers adopt them. But the turning point is now and we have to plan for adoption.”

Once fully operational, the Detroit-Hamtramck plant will employ 2,200 workers, according to GM. The automaker plans to build a family of EVs at the factory, including a Hummer truck that will be sold by GMC dealers, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month. The company also will assemble a family of electric crossovers and cars at its Orion plant north of Detroit.