About 1,200 workers at General Motors Co.’s Detroit-area all-electric plant will be laid off as the company downsizes to a single shift in response to the slowing U.S. electric vehicle market.
The company also will cut 550 jobs at its joint-venture Ultium Cells battery cell plant in Ohio, with another 850 slated for temporary layoff. The Ultium Cells’ Tennessee plant will temporarily lay off 700 workers.
The layoffs reflect a rapid pullback in EV production as GM adjusts to a U.S. EV market no longer bolstered by $7,500 tax credits for buyers and lessees that expired last month. Automakers also expect to soon be free of expensive government fines for greenhouse gas emissions that pushed EV manufacturing ahead of market demand. Both policy changes were pushed by President Donald Trump.
“In response to slower near-term EV adoption and an evolving regulatory environment, General Motors is realigning EV capacity,” according to a company statement. “Despite these changes, GM remains committed to our U.S. manufacturing footprint, and we believe our investments and dedication to flexible operations will make GM more resilient and capable of leading through change. Impacted employees may be eligible for SUB pay and benefits in accordance with the National GM-UAW Agreement.”
GM on Wednesday said its all-electric Factory Zero Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center, which went offline this week, will remain shut down until Nov. 24 when it will run two shifts until the holiday break. It will only operate one shift when it reopens Jan. 5 after the holidays.
About 2,000 employees will stay on at Factory Zero, spokesperson Kevin Kelly said. Cuts will be based on seniority.
The plant has repeatedly cut shifts and slowed production this year, including axing a shift each for the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Escalade IQ.
Ultium Cells plants in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Warren, Ohio, will pause operations starting Jan. 5 and continuing through at least May, Kelly said.
“During the temporary pause Ultium Cells plans to make upgrades to both facilities to provide greater flexibility,” according to a GM statement. “Ultium Cells will continue to evaluate and adapt production plans based on evolving market needs.”
Kelly said more layoffs are coming at two other sites. GM’s Pontiac Metal Center, a Metro Detroit stamping plant that supplies parts for Factory Zero, will temporarily lay off 45 workers and New York’s Rochester Operations, which makes electric vehicle battery cooling lines supplied to Factory Zero, will temporarily idle 74 employees. Both actions will take effect Nov. 17.
The moves come as battery manufacturers ― including the Detroit Three ― scale back plans for EV battery production, citing tepid demand and a sharply changing regulatory environment under the Trump administration.
Ford Motor Co. has delayed production plans at major battery plants it has a stake in, while a Stellantis NV partnership isn’t moving forward with major parts of its originally-planned battery factory footprint. Numerous battery projects have been scrapped, delayed or mothballed.
Automakers are in many cases rethinking their entire game plan for EVs under Trump, pivoting more to hybrids and big-engine trucks, pausing EV assembly lines, and in some instances ― including with GM ― altogether stripping EV-related production equipment out of factories.