Overview
- GM confirmed on Tuesday that it will close the Brownstown Battery Assembly plant south of Detroit.
- Company statements say the leased site will be decommissioned when the lease ends next summer and that production and employees will be moved to other GM locations.
- Brownstown, a 480,000-square-foot facility opened in 2009, made high-voltage battery packs for the Cadillac Celestiq and battery packs and electric drive units for the Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray.
- Staffing at the site fell from roughly 300 at its peak to fewer than a dozen after output declined, and affected workers were notified earlier this year and offered roles at other GM plants.
- The closure follows recent moves by GM to exit battery joint ventures and scale back direct battery investment, a shift linked in coverage to weaker EV demand after federal tax-credit changes even as the company keeps some EV production and battery research underway.