Over the past week, General Motors (GM) has touted its major investment in America — $432 million in combined investments across manufacturing sites in Wentzville Assembly in Missouri and Spring Hill complex in Tennessee.
The company hosted President Trump at its Milford Proving Ground, a dedicated vehicle testing site containing over 150 miles of test roads, to drive home its reshoring push.
And while these investments are important to American automotive innovation and manufacturing, they hide the challenges GM has been facing when it comes to its electric vehicle (EV) business.
Source: GM
Reshoring in America
The $432 million investment is part of a bigger commitment in 2026 from GM to spend about $9 billion across the U.S. manufacturing footprint as well as an additional $7 billion in U.S. R&D.
For the $157 million investment at Wentzville, funds will be used on paint and modernization work like new paint processing equipment, a 28,000-square-foot expansion and refurbishment inside the existing paint shop.
For the $275 million investment at the Spring Hill, Tennessee, factory, the funds will be used to support the Cadillac XT6 assembly and support the future of the 2.7-liter engine program. Once the XT6 is added, the facility will become a five-vehicle operation, GM said.
EV business stalls in the U.S.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global electric sales are expected to rise in 2026 to 23 million, up from 20 million in 2025. This will account for close to 30% of all cars sold worldwide this year.
In 2025, Chinese automakers supplied 60% of electric cars sold worldwide with European and North American automakers each occupying a 15% share of global sales, IEA reported. However, global electric car sales fell 8% in the first quarter of 2026, driven mainly by weaker demand in the U.S. and China.
IEA said this masked major growth in other regions, specifically:
- Europe by 30%
- Asia Pacific (excluding China) by 80%
- Latin America by 75%
Close to 90 countries logged year-on-year sales growth while the U.S. and China faltered in the first quarter.
“Electric car sales set new records in close to 100 countries last year,” said Fatih Birol, director of the IEA. “The growing popularity of EVs has marked a major shift for car markets and the energy system as a whole — and it is providing some relief now amid the largest oil supply shock in history.”
Birol said looking ahead with falling battery prices and fallout from the current global energy crisis, the EV market is set for even further momentum.
GM’s EV troubles
American EV sales fell 45% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2025 as U.S. tax credits for EVs expired. Canada's EV rebate program ended around the same time, and tariff uncertainty added to the pressure. Amid that backdrop, GM pulled back on two EV programs in North America.
The automaker halted production at its CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada, in April 2025 after demand for its Chevrolet BrightDrop electric delivery van failed to materialize. Later, GM permanently ended BrightDrop production at CAMI in October 2025. This left GM with roughly 4,000 unsold vans still sitting on dealer lots.
Fast forward to January 2026, when GM looked to sell the CAMI assets and as of May 2026, the union representing CAMI workers was still fighting to get vehicle assembly brought back.
But it wasn’t just EV production in Canada that took a hit. GM pulled back its EV plans for the Orion Assembly in Michigan, leaving Gestamp, a multinational automotive engineering company, holding a $64.5 million facility it had built specifically to supply that program, eventually subleasing it to an unrelated tenant.
An GM assembly plant. The company is expanding it reshoring across the US, however, as EV demand is struggling in North America, the company is cutting back on electric projects. Source: GM
Every GM assembly plant in the U.S.
While these EV programs are either ended or suspended, the investment in Tennessee and Missouri is part of a larger domestic reshoring initiative from GM where it continues to operate assembly facilities across America.
This includes:
- Fort Wayne, Indiana — Producing Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks.
- Fairfax, Kansas — Producing Chevy Bolts.
- Bowling Green, Kentucky — Producing Chevy Corvettes.
- Detroit, Michigan — So-called Factory ZERO, GM’s first dedicated EV factory.
- Flint, Michigan — Producing Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.
- Two plants in Lansing, Michigan – One producing Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia vehicles and the other producing Cadillac CT5s.
- Wentzville, Missouri — Producing Chevy Colorado, Express, Canyon and Savana vehicles.
- Spring Hill, Tennessee — Producing Cadillac XT5, LYRIQ, LYRIQ-V and VISTIQ vehicles, as well as the upcoming Chevrolet Blazer.
- Arlington, Texas — Producing Cadillac Escalade and Escalade-V, Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon and Yukon XL vehicles.
