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USA Today
4 days ago
- Automotive
- USA Today
GM pledges $4 billion in new US manufacturing investments
GM pledges $4 billion in new US manufacturing investments Show Caption Hide Caption General Motors: History, innovation, and legacy Learn about the rich history and notable innovations of General Motors, from its founding in 1908 to its leadership in electric and autonomous vehicle technology. Two popular Chevrolet models will move to U.S. plants from Mexico. The plan is to produce gas-powered full-size SUVs and light duty pickup trucks at Orion Assembly in Michigan early 2027. GM also is retooling its Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas and the Spring Hill Manufacturing plant in Tennessee. General Motors will invest $4 billion in three U.S. manufacturing sites over the next two years to prepare for changing production slated to begin in 2027. Two popular Chevrolet models also will move to U.S. plants from Mexico as part of the shift. As part of the announcement on June 10, GM also confirmed reports that it has no current plans to produce electric vehicles at its Michigan Orion Assembly plant. Instead, the company will produce gas-only vehicles at the plant after its retooling. The Chevrolet Blazer also is slated for a refresh, the company spokesman confirmed, and its production will move from Mexico to the United States by 2027. The new investment will not reduce any production in North America, according to a company spokesman, and does not include previously announced U.S. investment as part of its 2023 UAW labor contract. Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at Telemetry, said his interpretation of the news is that GM's production changes come as a response to President Donald Trump's tariffs. Trump imposed 25% tariffs on imported vehicles and 25% tariffs on many auto parts imported into the United States earlier this year. On May 1, GM lowered its 2025 guidance, saying tariff expenses are likely to eat up to $5 billion in previously expected profits. 'They won't say it outright, but it's almost certain that they're moving production from Mexico to the U.S.,' he said, 'You're looking at between 400,000 and 500,000 more units in the U.S. They're not expecting to sell that many more vehicles in the U.S.' Automotive industry moves: General Motors commits $888 million to build next-gen V-8 engine in New York Orion Assembly changes GM planned to relaunch Orion Assembly after a $4 billion retooling and expansion to assemble the Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV later this year for late 2025 model year production, but that was pushed ahead six months to mid-2026. Previously, Orion made the Chevrolet Sonic and Bolt EVs, though production of those vehicles ended there last year. The plan now is to produce gas-powered full-size SUVs and light duty pickup trucks at Orion in early 2027, according to the company. Also by then, GM's Factory Zero in Detroit-Hamtramck will serve as the dedicated assembly location for the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV, Cadillac Escalade IQ and GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV. Praise for production changes GM's production announcement was met with near-universal praise from the White House, the United Auto Workers union and Michigan politicians on both sides of the aisle. 'No president has taken a stronger interest in reviving America's once-great auto industry than President Trump, and GM's investment announcement builds on trillions of dollars in other historic investment commitments to Make in America,' White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. 'The One, Big, Beautiful Bill's tax cuts, pro-growth policies, and full expensing of equipment investments will only turbocharge this resurgence under President Trump.' Trump's 'Big, Beautiful' tax bill proposes, among other things, to kill the electric vehicle tax credit by the end of this year and penalize hybrid and electric vehicle owners with annual fees to compensate for lost revenue customers would have paid in gas tax. UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement that the union had said for months that the auto industry could utilize excess capacity at U.S. auto plants and invest billions into factories, communities and American autoworkers. 'While other companies drag their feet, GM is showing that strategic auto tariffs work with a massive $4 billion investment that will create thousands of good paying union jobs. Thanks to the dedication of our members, who have been speaking up about the damage done by bad trade deals, we are finally starting to see real progress,' he said. 'It's time to invest in blue collar America, and GM is showing how it's done. This is just the beginning.' U.S. Rep. and House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Bruce Township, said in a statement GM's decision follows a series of economic moves made by the Trump administration aimed at reversing decades of industrial decline. The Orion Assembly plant is located in McClain's congressional district. 'This investment is a game-changer for our district and a big win for hard-working Michiganders,' McClain said. 'For months, we have said the president's efforts would pay off and more companies would invest in America again. Putting our country first, for the first time in years, is working. This investment is proof. I'm proud to have helped deliver this major win for our community.' U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, also praised the decision. 'This is good news for Michigan's workers and our role as a leader in the global auto industry. In order to remain a leader, we must be producing a robust product line that consumers want, including electric vehicles,' she said in a statement. 'The global market wants EVs. This investment demonstrates the auto industry's commitment to this leadership, and U.S. policy must support it. I will continue to work with every stakeholder to invest in manufacturing here at home, bring back jobs from overseas, and support the workers and communities who have built their lives around the auto industry." GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement: 'We believe the future of transportation will be driven by American innovation and manufacturing expertise. Today's announcement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to build vehicles in the U.S. and to support American jobs. We're focused on giving customers choice and offering a broad range of vehicles they love.' Other investments GM also is retooling its Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City and the Spring Hill Manufacturing plant in Tennessee. Fairfax Assembly will produce the gas-powered Chevrolet Equinox beginning in mid-2027, and will start producing the 2027 Chevrolet Bolt EV by the end of 2025. The Mexico-assembled Equinox is one of GM's top-selling vehicles and the No. 1 single nameplate that GM produces in Mexico for the U.S. market. GM exported 257,000 gas and electric Equinox vehicles from its Ramos plant across 2024, Abuelsamid said. GM said it plans to announce further investments to Fairfax for electric vehicles in the future. As for Spring Hill, in addition to bringing the Chevrolet Blazer production up from Mexico, the plant will also produce the Cadillac Lyriq and Vistiq EVs, as well as the Cadillac XT5. Once these changes come into play, Abuelsamid said, vehicle costs may rise. 'GM will probably increase prices once they increase U.S. production,' he said. 'That's why these vehicles were built in Mexico in the first place.' Free Press staff writer Todd Spangler contributed to this report. Jackie Charniga covers General Motors for the Free Press. Reach her at jcharniga@
USA Today
7 days ago
- Automotive
- USA Today
General Motors touts major leap in EV sales ahead of quarterly report
General Motors touts major leap in EV sales ahead of quarterly report Show Caption Hide Caption General Motors: History, innovation, and legacy Learn about the rich history and notable innovations of General Motors, from its founding in 1908 to its leadership in electric and autonomous vehicle technology. In addition to doubling electric vehicle sales within the first six months of 2025, GM said its share of the electric vehicle market doubled. GM has reported several production changes to electric vehicle manufacturing this year, often citing 'marketplace changes.' General Motors slightly more than doubled electric vehicle sales this year compared with the first five months of 2024, which the company said outstripped the industry average for that time period. The Detroit automaker broke with its traditional quarterly sales release cycle to report trucks and SUVs from its Chevrolet brand largely drove the difference. GM hasn't reported vehicle sales on a monthly basis since March 2018. Across all brands, GM sold 62,830 electric vehicles from January to May of 2025, with the Chevrolet brand comprising 37,620 of those sales. Crosstown rival Ford Motor Co., the only Detroit Three automaker to still report monthly sales, during the same time period, sold 34,132 vehicles across its all-electric vehicle lineup, which currently includes the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and the E-Transit van. While the high percentages seem impressive, a year-over-year comparison presents a low bar, said Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at Telemetry. Not all of GM's EVs were on the market at the same period last year. The Chevrolet Blazer's stop-sale from software challenges lasted from December 2023 and ended in March 2024, and dealerships didn't receive Equinox vehicles until mid-summer 2024. Cadillac's Optiq and Vistiq vehicles rolled out just this year. Consumer sales of the Silverado EV also didn't pick up until May 2024 ― prior to that period, the vehicle appeared in only some fleet sales of the work truck configuration. 2025 Chevrolet Blazer EV: The new SS midsize SUV is the brand's fastest SS ever 'Sales have indeed grown substantially in the past 12 months, but modest increases yield big percentage changes when the numbers are small to begin with,' Abuelsamid said. 'It's a percentage bias and it's what we've been seeing in EV sales for a couple of years.' That isn't to say GM's EV growth spurt isn't still impressive. GM is a leader in the electric vehicle space, offering the broadest range of powertrains on the market, according to Alan Haig, president of dealership merger-and-acquisitions firm Haig Partners. In the firm's most recent industry report, Haig notes GM dealers see great future earnings potential across all four GM brands, which translates into stronger offers on GM dealerships when they go up for sale. Customers are pouring into dealership showrooms to check out the latest vehicles, Haig said in the report, and that demand then lifts all departments within the dealership. Sales of electric vehicles may be growing exponentially, but they still fall far short of the business the company does with gas-powered models. 'GM's in a really good spot right now. Their electric vehicles are selling well, but their (internal combustion vehicles) are selling better,' Haig told the Detroit Free Press. 'Sitting here today, most customers are choosing gas. And when that tax credit goes away, it's going to pull demand away from EVs even more.' Top-selling models Since the first 100 or so Chevrolet Equinox EVs arrived at dealerships last year, the vehicle has quickly become a top seller for the company's electric vehicle portfolio. Through the second quarter 2024, GM sold 1,013. Even without June sales figures, 21,804 electric Equinox vehicles sold in 2025. Scott Bell, vice president of global Chevrolet, said more than half of electric-vehicle sales volume this year came from customers new to General Motors. 'It's certainly the most affordable EV out there with that kind of range. It is by far the leader in the clubhouse — it doubles our Blazer volume easily on a monthly basis,' he said. 'Once you convert to an EV, you're not leaving. Especially once you've invested in the infrastructure, a home charger, 86% of them will stay.' 'Refocus on fossil fuels' Meanwhile, GM's electric vehicle sales success occurs amid growing concern that a shift to a broader electric vehicle portfolio could harm automakers' long-term profits. Bank of America analyst John Murphy said June 4 while presenting the annual 'Car Wars' report that he advised a retreat to gas-powered vehicle production to generate enough cash to protect against an uncertain market. Much of that uncertainty stems from the White House. In his second term, President Donald Trump has adopted several policies aimed at reducing clean energy incentives. His "Big, Beautiful" tax bill proposes to kill the electric vehicle tax credit by the end of this year and penalize hybrid and electric vehicle owners with annual fees to compensate for lost revenue customers would have paid in gas tax. Meanwhile, Trump's tariff plans continue to throw a wrench in the intricate multinational supply chain relied on by every automaker that builds and sells vehicles in the United States. Many automakers announced plans to adjust operations and footprints seeking to mitigate costs from tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts. But not every Trump-backed initiative has drawn criticism from the industry. The auto sector rejoiced May 22 when the U.S. Senate voted to revoke California's emissions waivers that would ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars and trucks by 2035. The week before, GM emailed thousands of its non-hourly employees requesting they use scripted talking points to lobby senators to veto the bill, the Wall Street Journal reported. 'Emissions standards that are not aligned with market realities pose a serious threat to our business by undermining consumer choice and vehicle affordability,' the message reportedly said. California, alongside 16 other states and the District of Columbia, would have required electric vehicle sales to comprise over one-third of all vehicles sold in their respective states, which industry leaders warned would result in a dramatic reduction of new vehicle sales in affected markets. Increasing the number of electric vehicles sold, industry leaders warned, would require automakers to send dealerships fewer gas-powered vehicles, limiting the supply of cars that dealerships know they could sell. Shifting production plans GM has reported several production changes to electric vehicle manufacturing this year, often citing 'marketplace changes.' GM said April 23 that it planned to expand transmission production at its Toledo (Ohio) Propulsions Systems plant where it builds transmissions used in the Silverado and Sierra pickup trucks, while reducing electric drive unit production. The company announced May 27 its largest-ever propulsion investment would be for gas-powered vehicles, $888 million, on next-generation V-8 engine production. Yet the company remains firm that it is not turning away from its zero-emissions objectives. In addition to doubling electric vehicle sales within the first six months of 2025, GM said its share of the electric vehicle market doubled as well. Even if the market isn't where GM planned for it to be when designing its electric portfolio, consumers shouldn't consider their production changes as a sign the company will abandon its EV goals. If nothing else, Haig said, the company has already spent so much to make sure it wouldn't be left behind once the market shifted in favor of more electrified options. 'GM has spent billions of dollars on these EV products, and they're second behind Tesla. They're trying to get a return on investment on all these products,' Haig said. 'But if the CARB mandate is eliminated, ultimately, they've got shareholders they need to answer to and they're making very strong profits on their trucks and SUVs.' Customer 'not ready' to go electric Despite numerous changes from electric vehicle production, GM still believes in an all-electric future, Barra also said during a Wall Street Journal event last week. A full electric vehicle transition depends entirely on what happens with the regulatory environment and national charging network ― the former outpacing GM customer demand, the latter falling behind on the infrastructure needed to improve confidence for vehicle buyers. 'The customer was telling us they weren't ready,' Barra said onstage at the Future of Everything conference in New York City, adding that regulations requiring 37% electric vehicle sales penetration greatly exceed the 7% of vehicles sold in April. 'I've been saying for a couple of years now that I thought the regulatory environment was getting in front of the customer, and I've always said that we needed one national standard,' she said. 'We have a portfolio, we're committed, but frankly, this was necessary for the customer.' Barra touted GM's recent investments in charging infrastructure, including partnerships with Pilot Flying J and Tesla Inc. GM is also relying on its dealership network to determine underserved areas that require more charging options. 'We've got to get a little further, and I think that we will,' Barra said. 'Every quarter, the infrastructure gets a little better.' Jackie Charniga covers General Motors for the Free Press. Reach her at jcharniga@
Politico
12-06-2025
- Automotive
- Politico
GM slow-rolls its all-EV aspirations
General Motors quietly closed the door this week on a goal to make only electric vehicles by 2035. The automaker announced Tuesday that it would spend $4 billion on mostly gasoline-powered vehicles. While GM is not retreating from EVs, the investment means the company is 'giving up any hope of achieving that [2035] goal,' said Sam Abuelsamid, an auto analyst at Telemetry, a Detroit-area research firm. Asked Wednesday whether the goal still exists, GM said in a statement, 'We still believe in an all-EV future.' GM's move away from the 2035 goal is less a singular failure and more a symptom of flagging support among many actors, including government, other automakers, charging companies and car buyers, analysts said. Much has changed since GM set the EV target, just after President Joe Biden took office and amid a surge of confidence in the auto industry about widespread EV adoption. Four years later, the Trump administration is dismantling Biden-era federal support for EVs and implementing high tariffs, upsetting automakers' production plans. Those federal moves, combined with a cooling desire for EVs among car buyers, has moved the sunset date for the internal combustion engine to a vague someday. GM is still ramping up EV production. Earlier this week, it trumpeted the fact that it sold 37,000 EVs in the first quarter of the year, making it the number two EV maker in the U.S. behind Tesla. The company's 2035 goal 'was aspirational. It was more an idea than a strategy,' said Alan Baum, an independent Detroit auto analyst. 'GM's doing a better job than many of their competitors, but there's obviously a relatively low ceiling because of the lack of supportive policy.' GM's all-EV goal back in 2021 was one of the earliest and most prominent of a wave of automaker commitments to electric vehicles. At the time, GM CEO Mary Barra encouraged others to 'follow suit and make a significant impact on our industry and on the economy as a whole.' Others did follow — and all of those promises have been tempered by new realities. Last year, European automakers Volvo, Porsche, Volkswagen and Mercedes all dropped earlier goals that would have seen them producing all or mostly EVs by the early 2030s. Back in 2021, GM also put an asterisk on its 2035 target. 'We say it as an aspirational goal, because to actually make that timing, we need some external things to come together also,' spokesperson Jessica James said at the time. Barra reiterated last month that the company still wants an 'all-EV future.' 'EVs are fundamentally better,' she said at a Wall Street Journal event late last month. 'We have work to do to continue to get battery technology to give us greater density, so we have farther range. We need to have a robust charging infrastructure.' Automakers, including GM, have been mostly mum in public as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress seek to kill tax incentives that make it cheaper for manufacturers to produce batteries and consumers to buy EVs. But through the main U.S. automotive lobby, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, automakers have vociferously opposed California's plans to require all-electric auto sales by 2035. The Republican-controlled Congress voted to kill that California 2035 all-EV sales goal — the same one that GM first set for itself — through the Congressional Review Act. The move came after the Senate parliamentarian told lawmakers they couldn't repeal the goal through the CRA. The bill awaits a signature by Trump, after which the California attorney general has pledged to sue. GM's announcement that it would invest $4 billion in domestic manufacturing essentially shuffles production among factories in ways that will help the company dodge Trump's tariffs. It is moving production of about a half-million gasoline-powered vehicles from Mexico to factories in the U.S., according to an analysis by Abuelsamid of Telemetry. Doing so will enable GM to avoid 25 percent tariffs that the Trump administration has placed on vehicles imported from Mexico. For example, the production of several full-size SUVs and pickup trucks will transfer to GM's Orion plant, north of Detroit. The gas-powered Equinox, a strong U.S. seller, will move to the Fairfax plant in Kansas City. The gas-running Blazer will go to the company's Spring Hill plant in Tennessee. Meanwhile, more EV production will move to GM's Factory Zero, a dedicated EV plant in metro Detroit that is running far below capacity. Electric versions of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks will now get made in the plant, alongside other large EVs made in low volumes, including the Cadillac Escalade IQ and the Hummer. Other EVs will be made elsewhere. Other electric Cadillacs, for example, will be made at the Spring Hill plant, while a rebooted version of the Chevy Bolt will be produced at the Fairfax plant, which the company described as the site for the 'next generation of affordable EVs.' Those changes, combined with other recent moves, make it clear that GM is laying the groundwork to produce gas-powered vehicles well into the 2030s. In May, the Detroit automaker said it would ditch plans to make electric motors at its Towanda Production plant in Buffalo, New York, and instead spend $888 million to make V-8 engines. In 2023, GM put $579 million toward refurbishing an engine plant in Flint, Michigan. Electric vehicles don't have engines — they rely instead on batteries for propulsion. Engine factories are large, fixed investments that are meant to operate for 15 years or more, according to Neal Ganguli, a managing director and auto-manufacturing expert at the business advisory firm AlixPartners. Meanwhile, the manufacturing lines that make finished cars — like the ones GM unveiled this week — have shorter but still lengthy lives. 'When you put these [manufacturing lines] in, you are planning on a five- to seven-year time horizon,' Ganguli said. 'Maybe 10 years.' Analysts said General Motors' swerve back into the gasoline lane — and away from the path to all EVs by 2035 — is not a surprise, given the market and policy realities. 'It was always a long shot at best,' said Abuelsamid.
E&E News
12-06-2025
- Automotive
- E&E News
GM slow-rolls its all-EV aspirations
General Motors quietly closed the door this week on a goal to make only electric vehicles by 2035. The automaker announced Tuesday that it would spend $4 billion on mostly gasoline-powered vehicles. While GM is not retreating from EVs, the investment means the company is 'giving up any hope of achieving that [2035] goal,' said Sam Abuelsamid, an auto analyst at Telemetry, a Detroit-area research firm. Asked Wednesday whether the goal still exists, GM said in a statement, 'We still believe in an all-EV future.' Advertisement GM's move away from the 2035 goal is less a singular failure and more a symptom of flagging support among many actors, including government, other automakers, charging companies and car buyers, analysts said. Much has changed since GM set the EV target, just after President Joe Biden took office and amid a surge of confidence in the auto industry about widespread EV adoption. Four years later, the Trump administration is dismantling Biden-era federal support for EVs and implementing high tariffs, upsetting automakers' production plans. Those federal moves, combined with a cooling desire for EVs among car buyers, has moved the sunset date for the internal combustion engine to a vague someday. GM is still ramping up EV production. Earlier this week, it trumpeted the fact that it sold 37,000 EVs in the first quarter of the year, making it the number two EV maker in the U.S. behind Tesla. The company's 2035 goal 'was aspirational. It was more an idea than a strategy,' said Alan Baum, an independent Detroit auto analyst. 'GM's doing a better job than many of their competitors, but there's obviously a relatively low ceiling because of the lack of supportive policy.' GM's all-EV goal back in 2021 was one of the earliest and most prominent of a wave of automaker commitments to electric vehicles. At the time, GM CEO Mary Barra encouraged others to 'follow suit and make a significant impact on our industry and on the economy as a whole.' Others did follow — and all of those promises have been tempered by new realities. Last year, European automakers Volvo, Porsche, Volkswagen and Mercedes all dropped earlier goals that would have seen them producing all or mostly EVs by the early 2030s. Back in 2021, GM also put an asterisk on its 2035 target. 'We say it as an aspirational goal, because to actually make that timing, we need some external things to come together also,' spokesperson Jessica James said at the time. Barra reiterated last month that the company still wants an 'all-EV future.' 'EVs are fundamentally better,' she said at a Wall Street Journal event late last month. 'We have work to do to continue to get battery technology to give us greater density, so we have farther range. We need to have a robust charging infrastructure.' Automakers, including GM, have been mostly mum in public as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress seek to kill tax incentives that make it cheaper for manufacturers to produce batteries and consumers to buy EVs. But through the main U.S. automotive lobby, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, automakers have vociferously opposed California's plans to require all-electric auto sales by 2035. The Republican-controlled Congress voted to kill that California 2035 all-EV sales goal — the same one that GM first set for itself — through the Congressional Review Act. The move came after the Senate parliamentarian told lawmakers they couldn't repeal the goal through the CRA. The bill awaits a signature by Trump, after which the California attorney general has pledged to sue. What GM is doing GM's announcement that it would invest $4 billion in domestic manufacturing essentially shuffles production among factories in ways that will help the company dodge Trump's tariffs. It is moving production of about a half-million gasoline-powered vehicles from Mexico to factories in the U.S., according to an analysis by Abuelsamid of Telemetry. Doing so will enable GM to avoid 25 percent tariffs that the Trump administration has placed on vehicles imported from Mexico. For example, the production of several full-size SUVs and pickup trucks will transfer to GM's Orion plant, north of Detroit. The gas-powered Equinox, a strong U.S. seller, will move to the Fairfax plant in Kansas City. The gas-running Blazer will go to the company's Spring Hill plant in Tennessee. Meanwhile, more EV production will move to GM's Factory Zero, a dedicated EV plant in metro Detroit that is running far below capacity. Electric versions of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks will now get made in the plant, alongside other large EVs made in low volumes, including the Cadillac Escalade IQ and the Hummer. Other EVs will be made elsewhere. Other electric Cadillacs, for example, will be made at the Spring Hill plant, while a rebooted version of the Chevy Volt will be produced at the Fairfax plant, which the company described as the site for the 'next generation of affordable EVs.' Those changes, combined with other recent moves, make it clear that GM is laying the groundwork to produce gas-powered vehicles well into the 2030s. In May, the Detroit automaker said it would ditch plans to make electric motors at its Towanda Production plant in Buffalo, New York, and instead spend $888 million to make V-8 engines. In 2023, GM put $579 million toward refurbishing an engine plant in Flint, Michigan. Electric vehicles don't have engines — they rely instead on batteries for propulsion. Engine factories are large, fixed investments that are meant to operate for 15 years or more, according to Neal Ganguli, a managing director and auto-manufacturing expert at the business advisory firm AlixPartners. Meanwhile, the manufacturing lines that make finished cars — like the ones GM unveiled this week — have shorter but still lengthy lives. 'When you put these [manufacturing lines] in, you are planning on a five- to seven-year time horizon,' Ganguli said. 'Maybe 10 years.' Analysts said General Motors' swerve back into the gasoline lane — and away from the path to all EVs by 2035 — is not a surprise, given the market and policy realities. 'It was always a long shot at best,' said Abuelsamid.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
GM pledges $4 billion in new U.S. manufacturing investments
General Motors will invest $4 billion in three U.S. manufacturing sites over the next two years to prepare for changing production slated to begin in 2027. Two popular Chevrolet models also will move to U.S. plants from Mexico as part of the shift. As part of the announcement on June 10, GM also confirmed reports that it has no current plans to produce electric vehicles at its Michigan Orion Assembly plant. Instead, the company will produce gas-only vehicles at the plant after its retooling. The Chevrolet Blazer also is slated for a refresh, the company spokesman confirmed, and its production will move from Mexico to the United States by 2027. The new investment will not reduce any production in North America, according to a company spokesman, and does not include previously announced U.S. investment as part of its 2023 UAW labor contract. Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at Telemetry, said his interpretation of the news is that GM's production changes come as a response to President Donald Trump's tariffs. Trump imposed 25% tariffs on imported vehicles and 25% tariffs on many auto parts imported into the United States earlier this year. 'They won't say it outright, but it's almost certain that they're moving production from Mexico to the U.S.,' he said, 'You're looking at between 400,000 and 500,000 more units in the U.S. They're not expecting to sell that many more vehicles in the U.S.' More: General Motors commits $888 million to build next-gen V-8 engine in New York GM planned to relaunch Orion Assembly after a $4 billion retooling and expansion to assemble the Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV later this year for late 2025 model year production, but that was pushed ahead six months to mid-2026. Previously, Orion made the Chevrolet Sonic and Bolt EVs, though production of those vehicles ended there last year. The plan now is to produce gas-powered full-size SUVs and light duty pickup trucks at Orion in early 2027, according to the company. Also by then, GM's Factory Zero in Detroit-Hamtramck will serve as the dedicated assembly location for the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV, Cadillac Escalade IQ, and GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV. GM's production announcement was met with near-universal praise from the White House, the United Auto Workers union, and Michigan politicians on both sides of the aisle. 'No president has taken a stronger interest in reviving America's once-great auto industry than President Trump, and GM's investment announcement builds on trillions of dollars in other historic investment commitments to Make in America,' White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. 'The One, Big, Beautiful Bill's tax cuts, pro-growth policies, and full expensing of equipment investments will only turbocharge this resurgence under President Trump.' Trump's 'Big, Beautiful' tax bill proposes, among other things, to kill the electric vehicle tax credit by the end of this year and penalize hybrid and electric vehicle owners with annual fees to compensate for lost revenue customers would have paid in gas tax. UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement that the union had said for months that the auto industry could utilize excess capacity at U.S. auto plants and invest billions into factories, communities and American autoworkers. 'While other companies drag their feet, GM is showing that strategic auto tariffs work with a massive $4 billion investment that will create thousands of good paying union jobs. Thanks to the dedication of our members, who have been speaking up about the damage done by bad trade deals, we are finally starting to see real progress,' he said. 'It's time to invest in blue collar America, and GM is showing how it's done. This is just the beginning.' U.S. Rep. and House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Bruce Township, said in a statement GM's decision follows a series of economic moves made by the Trump administration aimed at reversing decades of industrial decline. The Orion Assembly plant is located in McClain's congressional district. 'This investment is a game-changer for our district and a big win for hard-working Michiganders,' McClain said. 'For months, we have said the president's efforts would pay off and more companies would invest in America again. Putting our country first, for the first time in years, is working. This investment is proof. I'm proud to have helped deliver this major win for our community.' U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, also praised the decision. 'This is good news for Michigan's workers and our role as a leader in the global auto industry. In order to remain a leader, we must be producing a robust product line that consumers want, including electric vehicles,' she said in a statement. 'The global market wants EVs. This investment demonstrates the auto industry's commitment to this leadership, and U.S. policy must support it. I will continue to work with every stakeholder to invest in manufacturing here at home, bring back jobs from overseas, and support the workers and communities who have built their lives around the auto industry." GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement: 'We believe the future of transportation will be driven by American innovation and manufacturing expertise. Today's announcement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to build vehicles in the U.S. and to support American jobs. We're focused on giving customers choice and offering a broad range of vehicles they love.' GM also is retooling its Fairfax Assembly plant in Kentucky and the Spring Hill Manufacturing plant in Tennessee. Fairfax Assembly will produce the gas-powered Chevrolet Equinox beginning in mid-2027, and will start producing the 2027 Chevrolet Bolt EV by the end of 2025. The Mexico-assembled Equinox is one of GM's top-selling vehicles and the No. 1 single nameplate that GM produces in Mexico for the U.S. market. GM exported 257,000 gas and electric Equinox vehicles from its Ramos plant across 2024, Abuelsamid said. More: Trump scales back tariffs on automakers, but analysts still expect car prices to rise GM said it plans to announce further investments to Fairfax for electric vehicles in the future. As for Spring Hill, in addition to bringing the Chevrolet Blazer production up from Mexico, the plant will also produce the Cadillac Lyriq and Vistiq EVs, as well as the Cadillac XT5. Once these changes come into play, Abuelsamid said, vehicle costs may rise. 'GM will probably increase prices once they increase U.S. production,' he said. 'That's why these vehicles were built in Mexico in the first place.' Free Press staff writer Todd Spangler contributed to this report. Jackie Charniga covers General Motors for the Free Press. Reach her at jcharniga@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: GM pledges $4 billion in new U.S. manufacturing investments Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
