GM jolts business model with electric vehicles bet

Despite decades of decline, General Motors Co. still delivers a spark to Michigan’s economy.

A new study by the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research (CAR) found that GM’s 46,800 jobs in the state have led to an additional 153,800 jobs here, creating a job multiplier effect largely unmatched by nonautomotive businesses.

Workers at GM’s 15 manufacturing plants in the state earned $14.5 billion and paid $4 billion in personal income taxes, Social Security and other government transfer payments in 2019.

And GM this week laid down a huge bet that it intends to be the leader in the development and production of electric vehicles, as it was with gasoline-powered cars and trucks for much of the 20th century.

GM announced Wednesday that it will launch 20 new electric vehicles for sale in the United States and China by 2023 and will spend $20 billion over the next five years on electric vehicle development. That’s almost half as much as GM’s total investments of $44.3 billion for all its U.S. operations announced over the past 20 years, according to CAR.

Read more: https://www.michiganadvance.com/2020/03/08/rick-haglund-gm-jolts-business-model-with-electric-vehicles-bet/