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US-based automobile General Motors handed pink slips to over 1700 workers at its manufacturing sites in Michigan and Ohio amid the slowdown in the EV market, according to a report of CNBC. While 1200 employees were laid off from Detroit’s electric vehicle plant and 550 cuts at Ohio’s Ultium Cells battery cell plant, 850 temporary employees were also fired from Ohio plant. Moreover, the company also said it would temporarily pause battery cell production at its Ohio and Tennessee plants starting January. The suspension will remain until mid-2026, while upgrading its facilities, according to CNBC report. In its statement, GM cited the slower near-term EV adoption and an evolving regulatory environment. The layoffs announced on Wednesday come a week after the company revealed plans to cut over 200 salaried positions — mostly engineers at its global tech campus in metro Detroit — as part of its ongoing restructuring drive. In the shareholder letter during Q3, GM cautioned that near-term EV adoption will be lower than planned given the evolving regulatory framework and the end of federal consumer incentives. “That is why we are reassessing our EV capacity and manufacturing footprint. The work, which is ongoing, resulted in a special charge in the third quarter, and we expect future charges. By acting swiftly and decisively to address overcapacity, we expect to reduce EV losses in 2026 and beyond,” GM added in the shareholder letter. GM said that they are focused on driving EV profitability, maintaining production and pricing discipline, managing fixed costs, and further reducing tariff exposure, adding the top priority to restore North America to its historical 8–10% EBIT-adjusted margins. The layoffs came despite GM reporting a more than doubling of sales for EV year-on-year in the third quarter.
