An Ohio battery plant owned by General Motors and once championed by President Donald Trump as symbolizing his American manufacturing revival is laying off hundreds of workers amid a slump in demand for electric vehicles.
GM confirmed the decision to The Associated Press on Wednesday, following a report by The Detroit News that the company would be cutting 550 jobs at the Lordstown plant—a joint venture with Ultium Cells—and placing another 850 on temporary layoff, while also cutting around 1,200 jobs at an assembly plant in Detroit.
“In response to slower near-term EV adoption and an evolving regulatory environment, General Motors is realigning EV capacity,” the company said in a statement quoted by AP, but stressed that it “remains committed to our U.S. manufacturing footprint.”
Newsweek contacted GM via email outside of regular hours for comment.
Why It Matters
The layoffs highlight the fragility of the electric vehicle transition and its vulnerability to policy changes. As GM and others have noted, the recent elimination of consumer tax credits for battery-powered cars has significantly impacted demand for these vehicles, forcing companies to reassess production plans while considering further reductions in their workforce and facility footprint.
What To Know
The Lordstown facility previously operated as a major auto assembly plant, with over 1,000 vehicles rolling off the line each day. However, the plant ultimately shut down in 2019, despite pledges from Trump during his first term to save the facility and preserve Ohio’s manufacturing base.
In mid-2017, Trump visited the area, holding a rally near the Lordstown facility at which he promised residents that jobs would soon be returning to the region following years of decline.
“They’re all coming back. They’re coming back,” Trump told the crowd. “Don’t move. Don’t sell your house.”
GM announced the closure of the plant in 2018, part of a wider plan to shutter facilities and cut over 14,000 jobs as it transitioned toward more fuel-efficient vehicles.
“It doesn’t really matter because Ohio is under my leadership from a national standpoint,” Trump said of the move in an interview with Fox News. “Ohio is going to replace those jobs in like two minutes.”
The plant was subsequently sold and later transformed into a cell battery plant in 2022, operated as a joint venture between Ultium Cells and GM for its electric vehicles.
As GM noted, the layoffs reflect recent declines in electric vehicle demand following the elimination of the $7,500 consumer tax credits implemented during Joe Biden’s presidency as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Following Trump’s signing of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” in July, the incentives were ended for purchases made after September 30.
According to the latest automotive industry report from data analytics platform Cloud Theory, electric vehicle sales have dropped 74 percent from their 2025 peak following the expiration of the credits.
A separate study from Cox Automotive found that electric vehicle sales soared after the bill’s passage—”as buyers rushed to buy before the $7,500 tax credits expired”—but said that this demand is expected to “collapse” from October onward.
What People Are Saying
Charles Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox Automotive, wrote: “As more tariffed products replace non-tariffed inventory, prices are tracking higher, which should lead to slower sales through the remainder of the year. With the expiration of EV tax credits and a decline in alternative powertrain sales, the sales pace is anticipated to decrease as we move into a new season.”
George Goranitis, local chapter president of the United Auto Workers union, said in a statement quoted by Business Journal Daily: “Today, we received some devastating news that weighs heavily in our hearts and our community. This is an incredibly challenging time for our local union and our membership, especially given the painful history of our former assembly plant shutting its doors.”
GM chief financial officer Paul Jacobson, in a call with investors last week, said: “Under the changing regulatory environment, we expect EV demand growth to slow pretty significantly from what it was going to be. We need to make sure that we rightsize the capacity footprint to be able to not have to absorb a lot of those fixed costs.”
GM CEO Mary Barra, in a recent letter to shareholders, wrote: “With the evolving regulatory framework and the end of federal consumer incentives, it is now clear that near-term EV adoption will be lower than planned. That is why we are reassessing our EV capacity and manufacturing footprint.”
What Happens Next
According to reports by The Detroit News and NBC News, in addition to the 1,200 layoffs at the Detroit assembly plant and 550 at the Lordstown Ultium facility, GM will also be temporarily laying off 700 workers at the Ultium Cells plant in Tennessee.
