GM announced last week that they would invest $300 million into their extant Orion Township Assembly Plant in order to facilitate the production of a new electric vehicle. The planned expansion will bolster the electric car production already taking place at the facility.
The company intends to employ 400 additional workers in order to facilitate the move. The vehicle they’ll be building is a mystery as of now. However, the company’s website states that it will be “based off an advanced version of the same vehicle architecture” as the current Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle.
The move comes on the heels of the closure of the company’s Ohio-based Lordstown Assembly Plant earlier this month, which produced the recently discontinued Chevrolet Cruze compact car. While many of those employed at the plant lost their jobs, the company claims to have added an additional 2,700 jobs across many of its US facilities concurrent with a planned $1.8 billion total investment.
GM’s actions correspond with that of an industry that has seen consumers shy away from traditional sedans in favor of larger, and often more energy efficient vehicles. With Tesla’s recent announcement that they would be entering the small SUV segment with the Model Y, perhaps GM is hoping to challenge them with their own all-electric crossover.