DETROIT– General Motors’ Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in Michigan is getting a new name — Factory Zero — marking a commitment to an all-electric, zero-emissions lineup.
The plant will become the automaker’s electric-vehicle hub, building the GMC Hummer pickup and Cruise Origin, a self-driving, electric shuttle developed by Cruise, GM’s self-driving subsidiary in San Francisco.
GM said last year it would invest $2.2 billion to ready the factory for EV production. The investment is the largest in GM’s history, the automaker said. When the plant is fully operational, GM says it will create more than 2,200 manufacturing jobs.
“Factory ZERO is the next battleground in the EV race and will be GM’s flagship assembly plant in our journey to an all-electric future,” Gerald Johnson, GM executive vice president of global manufacturing, said in a statement Friday. “The electric trucks and SUVs that will be built here will help transform GM and the automotive industry.”
Both the Hummer and Origin will be powered by GM’s proprietary Ultium battery, developed with LG Chem and to be built in Ohio.
GM will begin building the Hummer pickup, which will be revealed next week, in fall 2021. Orders for the Hummer will be opened next week.
GM has not said when production of the Origin will begin, but at least one forecaster expects output to begin in late 2022.
