General Motors will delay a plan to add capacity for its Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV at the Orion Assembly plant in Orion Township, Michigan, by at least a year, the automaker said on Tuesday.
Planned deliveries of the electric full-size trucks won't be delayed, however, as production of the Silverado EV in Work Truck guise has already started at GM's Factory Zero plant near Detroit, where the GMC Hummer EV and Cruise Origin are also built. Sierra EV production will start at the Factory Zero plant as scheduled in 2024.
GM first made an announcement in early 2022 that it would add more capacity for both electric full-size pickup trucks at the Orion plant in 2024. The move called for $4 billion to be invested in the site and 2,350 jobs added to the current 1,000 already at the site.
The plant currently builds the Chevy Bolt and related Bolt EUV, but production of both compact EVs is scheduled to end this year, after which the Orion plant will be idled for about two years. GM in its latest announcement said existing plant employees will be reassigned.
GMC Sierra EV lineup
GM said the plan remains to start production of the Silverado EV and Sierra EV at the Orion plant in late 2025. The automaker cited the need to “better manage capital investment” and meet “evolving EV demand” as the reasons for the delay.
In a statement to Detroit Free Press, GM spokesman Kevin Kelly further elaborated that the delay has nothing to do with the ongoing UAW strike action, and that EV demand isn't growing as fast as the automaker had forecast.
GM isn't the only major automaker scaling back its EV expectations. Ford this week cut a shift at the plant building the F-150 Lightning, resulting in 700 job cuts. Volkswagen in September canceled plans for a new EV plant to be built alongside an existing plant at its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany.
