DETROIT — General Motors has started retooling a former sedan factory here into its first electric vehicle production hub. But the automaker's ambitious goal to launch 20 EVs by 2023 will require a much bigger manufacturing footprint that's likely to include other assembly plants in Michigan and at least one in Mexico.
That means planning for costly, time-consuming renovations — in order to build vehicles with uncertain consumer demand and profit margins — as the industry works to pull itself out of a recession during a pandemic. In spite of that, GM executives say they're moving full speed ahead on a $20 billion push into EVs and autonomous vehicles.