G.M. Plans New Electric Vehicle Made at Chevy Bolt Plant
General Motors is moving to widen its lineup of electric cars, and adding jobs in the process.
The automaker said Friday that it would begin producing a new electric vehicle as part of its Chevrolet lineup, resulting in the addition of 400 jobs at its plant in Orion Township, Mich.
The vehicle will share some characteristics with the all-electric Chevrolet Bolt EV, a small wagon that is already produced at the Orion factory, the company said in a statement. The addition of the vehicle will be accompanied by an investment in the plant of about $300 million. The company did not offer any other details about the new vehicle.
G.M. has said since 2017 that it planned to substantially expand its lineup of all-electric cars. The push comes as other carmakers, including Hyundai and Audi, prepare to unveil new plug-in hybrids and fully electric models in a bet that car owners are ready to switch from gasoline-powered vehicles.
“It’s an ongoing story of just trying to get realigned with where they see the business going in the future,” said Jeff Windau, an equity analyst at Edward Jones. “This is a capital-intensive business, and it takes time for the investments to be made and for the products to start being manufactured.”
In an appearance on CNBC, G.M.’s chief executive, Mary T. Barra, said it would take one or two years for the new vehicle to reach the market.
Competition in the electric-vehicle market is increasing. Ford announced this week that it would invest $900 million in Michigan to increase production of autonomous and electric cars in the coming years.
Both G.M. and Ford seem to be trying to chip away at Tesla’s hold on the electric vehicle market. Even as Elon Musk’s company expands its fleet, its sales seem to be slowing. A federal tax credit for electric vehicles was recently reduced for Tesla buyers after the company reached a sales threshold, but customers buying electric vehicles from other automakers still qualify for the higher reimbursement.
G.M. announced its new vehicle several days after President Trump criticized the automaker on Twitter over its decision to end production at a factory in Lordstown, Ohio. The plant is one of five in North America that the company said in November it would idle as part of a broader effort to cut costs.
G.M. said Friday that it had around 2,700 job openings at its factories and that it was trying to fill the vacancies with employees affected by the shutdowns at Lordstown and elsewhere. The company said 1,100 employees from idled plants had already been placed at other factories.
Source: nytimes
