ORION TOWNSHIP, Mich. – The Michigan Economic Development Corporation said yes Tuesday to an incentive package for General Motors in Lansing.
GM intends to build an electric vehicle battery plant on land the company already owns in Delta Township. The investment there is tagged at $2.5 billion and brings 1,700 jobs.
In Orion Township, at its existing Orion Assembly Plant, GM is slated to spend $4 billion to make its third electric vehicle plant. It’s a new life for the plant.
“Just over a dozen years ago, we were in jeopardy of losing the plant,” said Orion Township supervisor Chris Barnett.
Barnett and the township board, along with the county and state, aggressively looked for ways to breathe new life into Orion Township -- and they got it. The plant is slated to be an electric vehicle operation, and with that comes 2,300 new jobs.
“The impact of this will certainly be felt in Orion Township, but all over Oakland County and really the entire Southeast Michigan region, when you’re talking about the potential for thousands of new jobs and all of the other things that go along with building cars,” Barnett said.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to talk about the new investment, among other things, during her State of the State address on Wednesday, which will be held virtually for the second consecutive year amid the pandemic.
