GM to build $200M parts plant for Silverado EV

General Motors plans to build a $200 million electric vehicle parts plant that would create 1,000 new jobs and support assembly of the upcoming Chevrolet Silverado EV.

The project would cover 87.3 acres of the site where the Detroit Pistons' former arena was demolished in 2020. It would consist of 1.05 million square feet of EV parts assembly and distribution space, plus about 50,000 square feet of office space, according to documents filed with the city of Auburn Hills, Mich., whose planning commission will consider the proposal next week.

It would serve GM's nearby Orion Assembly plant, which currently builds the Chevrolet Bolt EV but is getting a $4 billion overhaul for electric pickup production to begin in 2024.

The EV parts plant would have about 350 workers per shift, according to the city documents. Draft plans for the project were presented to the city in July.

Construction would begin this July and be completed in November 2024.

GM plans to begin making the Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV at its Factory Zero in Detroit this year before adding the Orion plant as a second assembly site in 2024. Together, the two plants will give GM the ability to make 600,000 electric pickups a year.

"General Motors has identified the former Palace of Auburn Hills site as a potential location for a supplier park to support its Orion Assembly Plant, which will be expanded to produce electric pickup trucks," GM said in a statement. "The company is still determining the scope of work and which supplier will have operations in support of the plant."

Production of the Bolt will end in late 2023, GM said this week, and employment at the Orion plant is expected to roughly triple when it reopens for pickup production next year.

Crain's Detroit Business, an affiliate of Automotive News, first reported the planned development in early March for the property co-owed by a developer and Pistons owner Tom Gores, who paid $22 million for the site in 2019.

"We have been planning and preparing for this day for the last seven years," Auburn Hills Mayor Kevin McDaniel said in a statement Friday. "This would be a significant project and would represent a tremendous strategic investment in our community. It would also build on our reputation as being a 'hub' of electric vehicle development and manufacturing."

The Pistons played on the site from 1988 to 2017 before moving to Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit.