GM temporarily lays off 200 workers at all-EV plant
General Motors is temporarily laying off 200 workers at the company's all-electric plant in Detroit as it adjusts to market demands, a company source told FOX Business.
The Factory Zero assembly plant will be "placed on temporary layoff and may be eligible for subpay and benefits in accordance with the GM-UAW national contract."
The company has invested more than $2.5 billion in the factory, which employs about 4,537 workers.
The announcement comes a week after GM announced plans to add several hundred temporary workers to maximize production of light-duty trucks at its Fort Wayne, Indiana, assembly plant, as the industry addresses challenges tied to President Donald Trump's latest round of auto tariffs.
GM's temporary layoffs aren't related to Trump's tariffs, the source said. Instead, the factory, the first fully dedicated all-EV facility with contiguous battery assembly, is adjusting production "to align with market dynamics."
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The facility, which opened in 1985, is described as the "launchpad for General Motors’ multi-brand all-EV strategy," according to the automaker's website.
It manufactures a number of Ultium-based vehicles, including GMC's Hummer EV pickup and SUV as well as Chevrolet's Silverado EV WT.
The factory is also planned to be the production location of the GMC Sierra Denali Edition 1 and the Cadillac Escalade IQ2, in addition to assembling Ultium battery cells into modules and packs for a variety of vehicle designs, according to its website.
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In 2024, GM was among the automakers that eased some of their previously announced EV production targets and altered some of their operational plans in response to consumer demand.
CEO Mary Barra said in July that the company was pushing back its Orion Assembly EV truck plant by six months until mid-2026 and that it plans to introduce plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2027.
In July, GM lowered its projected EV output for 2024 from an upper-end projection of 300,000 units to 250,000 units. It also declined to reiterate a target of 1 million units of EV production capacity in North America by the end of 2025.
FOX Business' Eric Revell contributed to this report.