Lansing Sun

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer successfully secured a $7 billion investment from General Motors on Jan. 25 that will create thousands of electric vehicle manufacturing jobs in Michigan.

In a press release from the Office of the Governor last week, Whitmer announced that the historic new investment from GM will bring 4,000 temporary positions as well as 1,000 new jobs to the state. The money allocated to Michigan consists of a significant portion of GM's overall planned investment funds that will be put words creating electric and autonomous vehicles through 2025.

"Today we are taking the next step in our continuous work to establish GM's EV leadership by making investments in our vertically integrated battery production in the U.S., and our North American EV production capacity," said Mary Barra, GM chair and CEO, according to the governor's press release.

As part of the new investment, GM plans to convert the Orion Township assembly plant into a state-of-the-art facility that will be able to build full-size EV pickups, while also utilizing Ultium's 3rd US battery cell plant in Lansing to create the parts needed to power electric vehicles, according to the press release. 

"These important investments would not have been possible without the strong support from the governor, Michigan Legislature, Orion Township, the City of Lansing, Delta Township as well as our collaboration with the UAW and LG Energy Solution," Barra said. "These investments also create opportunities in Michigan for us to bring our employees along on our transition to an all-electric future." 

The first transformational project secured with bipartisan SOAR legislation was signed into law last month. Over the course of the next 20 years, GM's investment is expected to generate at least $28.8 billion in new personal income by the direct, indirect, and induced jobs which will be put towards local small businesses throughout the community and the state, according to the press release.