General Motors will lay off a total of 1,314 employees at two factories in Michigan. This decision is in connection to ending production of vehicles. GM filed a WARN notice on Thursday, stating that it will cut 945 jobs at its Orion Assembly plant in Orion Township.
As a result, on January 1, the company will begin implementing the job cuts. The job cuts are related to GM’s October announcement. GM delayed production of two all-electric pickups at the plant by a full year.
The decision resulted in idling the factory at the end of this year and transferring about 1,000 workers to other GM facilities in the state. GM had planned to start production on the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV next year at Orion.
However, GM announced a change in plans, stating that it will “retime the conversion” of the Orion Assembly plant to EV truck production. As a result, the plant is now scheduled to restart in late 2025 instead of the earlier planned timeline.
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The other WARN notice indicates that GM will cut 369 jobs at Lansing Grand River Assembly/Stamping. Additionally, the decision is in connection with GM ending the production of the Camaro muscle car built at that facility.
The cuts will occur in phases, starting on January 1 and concluding in March, as mentioned in the WARN notice. The automaker says it will offer affected employees jobs elsewhere in the company.
Meanwhile, General Motors revealed that nearly half of its Buick dealers opted for buyouts this year. The decision stemmed from their reluctance to invest in selling and servicing electric vehicles.
GM’s move to transition all its brands to electric vehicles by 2030 influenced this choice among Buick dealers. GM’s decision results in the company having approximately 1,000 Buick stores nationwide by the end of 2023.
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Additionally, this represents a 47% decrease from the number of stores at the beginning of the year. In the latter part of the previous year, Buick announced that it would request dealers to make a minimum investment of $300,000 to $400,000.
This investment aimed to prepare their stores to sell and service electric vehicles (EVs). In December 2022, GM had approximately 100 Buick dealerships in Michigan.
During that period, a Buick dealer in metro Detroit informed the Free Press that all the metro Detroit Buick dealers were investing to sell and service future EVs.
However, some smaller dealers in rural areas opted for the buyout offer, as confirmed by other dealers. In 2020, Cadillac introduced a comparable buyout program for its dealers.
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Nationally, approximately 170-180 out of Cadillac’s 870 dealers, accounting for around 20%, chose the buyouts. The buyouts offered by Cadillac ranged from $300,000 to $700,000.
Consequently, dealers who opted for the buyouts chose to relinquish their franchise. This decision was made rather than investing in tools, training, equipment, and charging stations for selling and servicing electric vehicles (EVs).
The information was shared by a source familiar with Cadillac’s plan to the Free Press in December 2020.
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