GM supplier Magna is stuck with a plant built to churn out parts for battery-powered pickups; ‘the magnitude of uncertainty is unparalleled’
ST. CLAIR, Mich.—At first, North America’s biggest auto-parts supplier was thrilled to snag the job of making enclosures for the batteries in General Motors’ new electric pickup. The contract was so big—and promised to be for years to come—that Magna International built a new factory in a Michigan cornfield.
Five years later, that million-square-foot plant is mostly empty and losing money, a casualty of America’s messy breakup with electric vehicles. It is one of dozens of now desolate or sparsely used EV parts plants across the country.
Now the war in Iran has driven gas prices up so sharply that EV enthusiasts are daring to wonder whether U.S. car buyers are willing to give the vehicles another look. But Magna and its big Detroit customers are forging ahead with plans to roll back EV investments.
