General Motors has begun converting their production facility in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, for the production of electric vehicles. During the conversion process, production of the Chevrolet Blazer and Equinox combustion models produced there will be discontinued until mid-May.
GM invested a billion dollars in the expansion of their production facility in Mexico. For the initial stage, the production facility will pack batteries and electric motors. Starting in 2023, electric vehicles will also be assembled at the production facility.
Production of cars with internal combustion engines will continue in the old part of the plant for the time being.
The time required for the conversion is six weeks. During that time, no cars will be produced. During the conversion period, new production machines and robots will be installed to modernize production.
In the week starting May 16, production of vehicles with internal combustion engines will resume. It is not known when the first electric pre-series models will be delivered to the production line.
There has been no confirmation of the electric vehicle model that will be produced at Ramos. However, the likely model to be produced at the facility is the electric Equinox.
In January, General Motors published several renderings of the Equinox EV at CES as a preview of the production model. This compact SUV is expected to hit the market in the fall of 2023 with a starting price of around $30,000. GM also announced the Blazer EV for spring 2023.
Ramos Arizpe is GM’s fifth factory for electric vehicle production. Two of these plants are located in Michigan (Orion for the Bolt, Bolt EUV and future Chevrolet Silverado EV and Factory Zero in Detroit-Hamtramck for the GMC Hummer EV), one in Tennessee (Spring Hill, among others for the Cadillac Lyriq) and a factory in Ontario, Canada – for electric carriers.
