The Ultium Cell factory in Warren, Ohio, is shown, July 7, 2023.
Gene J. Puskar | AP
General Motors laid off roughly 1,700 workers at manufacturing sites in Michigan and Ohio on Wednesday, citing a slowdown in the electric vehicle market.
The company confirmed there were around 1,200 layoffs at Detroit’s electric vehicle plant and 550 cuts at Ohio’s Ultium Cells battery cell plant, in addition to 850 temporary layoffs at that site in Ohio. The company also said it would temporarily lay off 700 at Ultium Cells’ Tennessee plant.
“In response to slower near-term EV adoption and an evolving regulatory environment, General Motors is realigning EV capacity,” the company said in a 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.”
GM also said battery cell production at its Ohio and Tennessee facilities will be temporarily paused beginning in January. It anticipates resuming operations at both battery cell sites by the middle of 2026 and will use the pause to upgrade its facilities.
Wednesday’s layoffs follow the company saying last week that it would cut more than 200 salaried employees, mostly engineers at its global tech campus in metro Detroit, as part of a restructuring effort.
After September, federal incentives of up to $7,500 to purchase electric vehicles was discontinued, leaving consumers racing to use the benefit before the expiration. Though sales for plug-in vehicles soared to records for many automakers in the third quarter, that demand is expected to decline following the discontinuation.
GM previously reported a more than doubling of sales for electric vehicles during the third quarter from the year prior, a trend other automakers like Ford Motor and Hyundai saw as well.
“We continue to believe that there is a strong future for electric vehicles, and we’ve got a great portfolio to be competitive, but we do have some structural changes that we need to do to make sure that we lower the cost of producing those vehicles,” CFO Paul Jacobson told CNBC’s Phil LeBeau during “Squawk Box” last week.
Still, GM’s third-quarter results last week included a $1.6 billion impact from its all-electric vehicle plans not playing out as anticipated, signaling it was undergoing a reassessment of its EV capacity and manufacturing processes.
The Detroit News first reported on the layoffs.
