By David Shepardson
(Reuters) -General Motors said on Thursday it is laying off 1,300 workers at two Michigan auto factories in early January.
The largest U.S. automaker said 945 workers will be laid off at its Orion Assembly plant, which is ending production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and being converted for electric truck production that will start in late 2025. Final production of the Bolt at Orion is set for next week, GM said.
Another 350 out of 1,400 total workers at its Lansing Grand River plant will be laid off due to the end of Chevrolet Camaro production, but the factory will continue producing the Cadillac CT4 and Cadillac CT5. GM said affected hourly employees will be offered positions at other factories.
GM disclosed in October it was delaying production of electric pickup trucks at the Orion plant by a year, so the layoff affects all production workers at that plant. The Detroit automaker had been set to begin production of the electric Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra in late 2024 at the suburban Detroit plant.
GM CEO Mary Barra said they delay would enable the automaker "to make engineering and other changes that will make the trucks more efficient and less expensive to produce, and therefore more profitable."
GM, which has vowed to stop selling gas-powered vehicles by 2035, in October said it was abandoning a goal of building 400,000 EVs from 2022 through mid-2024.
GM's rival Ford (NYSE:F) said in October it was temporarily cutting one shift at its plant that builds the F-150 Lightning EV.
Ford told suppliers this week it planned to produce about 1,600 electric F-150 Lightning EV trucks per week starting in January in 2024, roughly half of the 3,200 it previously had planned.