From The Verge: Last week, GM-subsidiary Cruise unveiled the Origin, its first self-driving car without a steering wheel or pedals. At the time, the company’s CEO Dan Ammann promised to reveal production details in the days to come. Well, today’s the day, with GM announcing plans to spend $2.2 billion to retrofit its Detroit-Hamtramck plant for the production of autonomous and electric vehicles.
In addition to the Origin, the facility will also produce all-electric SUVs and pickup trucks. The automaker plans to release 20 electric nameplates by 2023, the first of which will be an electric truck slated to go into production in 2021. This will be followed “soon after” by the Cruise Origin, a shared, electric, self-driving vehicle unveiled in San Francisco last week. Detroit-Hamtramck will be GM’s first “fully-dedicated” electric vehicle assembly plant, the company said. (The news was first reported by The Detroit News last week.)
This represents an about-face for GM, which had been planning on closing its Detroit-Hamtramck facility in June 2019 but changed course after discussions with the United Auto Workers union last fall. Detroit-Hamtramck employs about 900 people and makes four vehicles, including the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac CT6. The facility was one of five North American plants GM has announced plans to close. GM said it will be “idled” for several months beginning at the end of February as the renovations begin.
View: Full Article
