Ohio Senators Want GM To Build All EVs For The Local Market In The U.S.

When GM announced a major restructuring of its North American plants last month, the company also pledged to double resources allocated to EVs and autonomous cars.

If General Motors is truly planning an onslaught of electric vehicles in the U.S., lawmakers want the automaker to commit that it shall build those cars in America. Two U.S. senators from Ohio, the state that hosts the Lordstown Assembly plant scheduled to stop Chevy Cruze production in March 2019, want some answers from GM.

In a letter to CEO Mary Barra, Republican Senator Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown demanded GM to commit to producing all future electric vehicles for American buyers in the U.S. and provide more details of plans to reduce car production in North America.

The lawmakers also want to know whether GM will build additional electric passenger cars or shift to electric SUVs and crossovers. The automaker currently builds the Chevrolet Bolt EV (pictured) at the Orion Assembly plant in Michigan, but will end production of the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly facility next year.

In the same letter seen by Automotive News, the lawmakers asked the carmaker to disclose how many people at its suppliers in Ohio will lose their jobs as a consequence of Lordstown Assembly’s potential closure. Additionally, the senators want to know how much it will cost to close the plant.

The congressmen demanded answers to their questions by December 21. GM did not comment on the letter, which is the latest in a string of efforts from Congress and the White House to persuade GM into reversing its decision to idle production at four U.S. plants and cut thousands of jobs.

On December 7, four members of the U.S. House of Representatives invited President Donald Trump to join them in visits to the closing plants. They urged him to get involved “in every manner possible to seek both short and long-term remedies for these workers.”