General Motors Halts Employee Production at Detroit Facility

General Motors is temporarily idling 1,300 workers at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, known as Factory ZERO, as the carmaker adjusts its electric vehicle production strategy to match current market conditions.

Kevin Kelly, Senior Director of Corporate News Relations at GM, tells Crain's Detroit Business: "Factory ZERO will temporarily adjust production to align EV production with market demand."

The workforce adjustment represents the latest in a series of employment challenges at the facility, following significant layoffs in 2025 and comes as GM recorded a US$6bn charge related to EV investments in January 2026.

Temporary layoffs and employee support

According to Crain's Detroit Business, the 1,300 workers remaining at Factory ZERO will be temporarily idled between 16 March 2026 and 13 April 2026.

"Impacted employees will be placed on a temporary layoff and may be eligible for subpay and benefits in accordance with the GM-UAW national contract," Kevin tells Crain's Detroit Business in an email.

This latest workforce reduction follows a mass layoff at the plant in 2025, where GM announced via a WARN Act notice to the State of Michigan that it planned to lay off 1,140 workers. The affected employees included quality operators, assembly operators and material operators. GM listed its reason for the action as "due to production schedule adjustment required to adapt to slower near-term EV adoption."

Contrasting fortunes across facilities

While Factory ZERO faces workforce reductions, GM's Flint Assembly plant in Michigan, which manufactures internal combustion engine vehicles, is expanding operations to run six days a week from June 2026. According to the Wall Street Journal, the decision reflects strong demand for powerful pickups, even with high fuel prices.

The factory, which has been producing cars since 1947 and is GM's longest running assembly site in North America, now manufactures heavy duty trucks such as the Chevrolet Silverado 2500. In GM's financial year 2025, it recorded its best total Silverado sales in five years.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a GM spokesperson says: "General Motors is making strategic adjustments to Flint Assembly's production schedule to align with strong customer demand."

The contrasting production schedules between the two facilities could signal a shift in workforce deployment across GM's manufacturing operations as the company recalibrates its vehicle portfolio.

Broader industry workforce challenges

Factory ZERO opened in 2020 following a US$2.2bn investment to transform the Detroit-Hamtramck facility into an all-electric vehicle production site. At the opening, which was attended by former US President Joe Biden, GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra said: "GM's manufacturing expertise is key to achieving our all-electric future."

Mary adds: "This is a monumental day for the entire GM team. We retooled Factory ZERO with the best, most advanced technology in the world to build the highest quality electric vehicles for our customers."

The plant manufactures the GMC HUMMER EV Pickup, 2024 GMC HUMMER EV SUV, Cadillac LYRIQ and the Cruise Origin. Before shifting to EV production, the facility, which has been open since 1985, produced the Cadillac CT6 and the Chevrolet Impala.

GM's workforce adjustments reflect broader challenges facing the automotive sector as carmakers navigate the transition to electric vehicles. In its assumptions for 2026, announced with its 2025 earnings, GM expected EV losses to improve by US$1bn to US$1.5bn from "right-sizing EV capacity" and significantly lowering volume.