Automotive giant General Motors is preparing for layoffs at its assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri.
Although the layoffs will be temporary, the majority of the workers at the plant will be affected, according to a letter sent to employees by the plant’s executive director and the local UAW representative.
GM’s Wentzville plant builds the company’s Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size trucks, as well as the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans. The latter two are some of GM’s longest-running offerings and were rumored to be due for a complete EV revamp by 2026, but GM walked back on those plans, according to GMAuthority.
The reason for the temporary layoff—expected to last between September 29 and October 19—is a parts shortage.
GM didn’t respond to a request for comment from Gizmodo. We’ll update this post when we receive a reply.
The parts shortage is only the latest in a string of headwinds for GM, the major one being the Trump administration’s attack on the electric vehicle industry that caused the automotive giant to reevaluate its electrification strategy.
One of Donald Trump’s first courses of action as President was to initiate the repeal process of an electric vehicle consumer tax credit worth $7,500. Although the current tax credit was passed as part of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, an EV tax credit has existed in one form or another for more than a decade.
The tax credits are set to expire on September 30, plunging the electric vehicle industry into the great unknown.
That unknown caused GM to cut output at a major electric vehicle assembly plant, temporarily lay off workers, and indefinitely delay a shift at a Kansas City assembly plant that was set to produce electric Chevy Bolts later this year, Reuters reported in September.
GM’s (and America’s) EV test
Back in 2021, GM made a significant commitment to completely electrify its fleet of vehicles by 2035. A major roadblock for that vision has since arrived in the form of Trump-era EV policies.
According to CEO Mary Barra’s comments from last week, electric vehicles are still the company’s “north star.” Previously floundering demand is now looking up, too: sales of used electric vehicles rose 40% from last year in July, and GM’s own electric vehicle sales jumped to an all-time monthly record in August.
The company shared in a press release that although they are expecting strong demand in September as well, sales will “no doubt” be lower after the tax credits end.
“It may take several months for the market to normalize. We will almost certainly see a smaller EV market for a while, and we won’t overproduce,” Duncan Aldred, president of GM’s North America business, said in the press release.
The upcoming uncertainty is not just a test for GM, but a test for the U.S. at large. While EV demand flutters in the U.S. and Washington repeals key support for the industry, Chinese EV-makers like BYD enjoy government support as they ambitiously expand operations and global influence.
The demand might be slow-coming in the U.S. due to many reasons (one of which undoubtedly is the lack of EV charging infrastructure), but experts believe the future is still very much electric. Goldman Sachs analysts shared last year that they expect electric vehicles to make up 50% of global new car sales by 2035.