General Motors is cutting more than 1,700 production jobs and putting several hundred more on furlough as it addresses the drop in electric vehicle demand. According to a company announcement, not released but reported by several media outlets, GM “is realigning its EV capacity, (in response to) slower near-term EV adoption and evolving regulatory environment.”
A similar explanation was given by GM for its recent decision to discontinue its BrightDrop line of electric delivery vans, and forecast in its 3Q earnings report when it stated it is reassessing its battery-electric vehicle programs.
Other automakers are revamping their EV and hybrid vehicle programs too, including Ford, and Stellantis, while working to increase their internal-combustion engine offerings.
The shift is notable also because all of the Big Three automakers had been expected to be transitioning to EV-dominated portfolios for the 2026 model year, which would have seen them offering fewer and fewer gas-engine options up to 2030.
The turning point for EVs arrived with the expiration of federal tax credits for EV purchases, on September 30, 2025. That may also have been the explanation for EV sales setting a record in Q3 but as there is no prospect of renewing those credits the expiration is seen as a cause of a decline in electric vehicle sales in the projectible future.
At the Factory Zero operation in Detroit, where GM assembles the Chevy Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV, and Cadillac Escalade IQ EVs, production will be cut to one shift, reducing total employment there by about 1,200. The plant is currently on idle, but it will resume production with two shifts in late November. Then, in early January 2026 it will be reduced to one shift.
In related moves, two of GM’s Ultium Cells lithium-ion electric battery plants in Warren, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tenn., will have production idled for six months. At the Ultium plant in Ohio, 550 jobs will be eliminated, leaving employment at 850 when battery production resumes.
At the Tennessee battery plant, 700 workers will be laid off due to the idling.
In addition to these reduction, GM’s Pontiac (Mich.) Metal Center stamping operation will have employment cut by 45, and the Rochester (N.Y.) engine components plant will be downsized by 75 positions.
All these job cuts were preceded last week by a 200-person reduction of salaried staff at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Mich., where its electric vehicle R&D activities are based.
GM is not alone in adjusting its EV programs, but it had been noticeably more committed to those efforts earlier this year.