– General Motors Co is planning to invest more than $3 billion to make electric vehicles in its home state of Michigan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The company plans to convert its Orion Assembly plant in suburban Detroit into a hub for making electric pickup trucks and build a battery-cell factory near one of its assembly plants in Lansing, the Journal reported.
Shares of the U.S. automaker rose more than 3% in afternoon trading.
The renovation of GM’s Orion Assembly plant, which builds its Chevrolet Bolt EV, would cost at least $2 billion and create more than 1,500 jobs at the factory, according to the report.
GM’s battery-cell project has been planned as a 50-50 joint venture with its battery partner, LG Energy Solutions, splitting more than $2 billion between the two firms and possibly creating around 1,200 jobs, the report added.
“GM is developing business cases for potential future investments in Michigan,” the carmaker said in an emailed statement, but declined to give any additional details about the projects.
The carmaker in October outlined plans to double its revenue by 2030 and become the leader in U.S. electric vehicle sales.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington ; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)
