General Motors is laying off 350 workers at two Lansing, Michigan facilities starting January 14, 2027, for six weeks of what the company calls “retooling.” The plant at the center of it took a $500 million federal grant in 2024 to build electric vehicles. It’s coming out the other side building a gas-powered Cadillac instead.

Key Points

• 350 workers laid off across Lansing Grand River Assembly/Stamping and Lansing Regional Stamping starting January 14, 2027
• GM accepted a $500 million U.S. Department of Energy grant in 2024 earmarked for electrification at the plant
• The retooled line will build a next-generation Cadillac CT5 — with a gasoline engine, not a battery
• The current Cadillac CT4 is being discontinued after June 2026 with no replacement planned
• Laid-off workers get supplemental pay equal to 74% of their hourly wage under the national GM-UAW contract

GM confirmed the layoffs on August 14, 2026, telling workers at Lansing Grand River Assembly/Stamping and the nearby Lansing Regional Stamping plant that the downtime is tied to “future vehicle production,” according to CBS News Detroit. Impacted positions include team members, team leaders, and both assembly and stamping operators.

The plant’s history with that “future vehicle production” language is what makes this one sting. In July 2024, GM accepted a $500 million grant from the Department of Energy’s Federal Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grant program, money specifically earmarked to prepare Lansing Grand River for production of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, fully electric, or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. GM vice president Camilo Ballesty said at the time that “GM’s investment and this Department of Energy grant underscore our commitment to U.S. leadership in manufacturing and innovation, making sure we’re competitive at home and abroad.”

Two years later, the money is going toward something else entirely. GM is pouring $1.25 billion into the Lansing Grand River retool, and what comes off the line afterward is a next-generation Cadillac CT5 built with a gasoline engine — sourced from U.S. and global parts, but with no electric variant in the plan. The current CT4 doesn’t survive the transition at all; it’s being retired after June 2026 with nothing lined up to replace it, leaving the CT5 as Cadillac’s lone traditional sport sedan.

For the 350 people affected, the layoff isn’t necessarily permanent. Under the national GM-UAW contract, workers can collect supplemental unemployment pay equal to 74% of their hourly wage during the downtime, and GM has told WILX it expects to recall employees once retooling wraps. That’s cold comfort for a Lansing plant that’s been promised an EV future twice now — first as part of GM’s broader $12 billion-plus North American electrification push, and now with a six-week shutdown to build a car that runs on gasoline.

The DOE grant program that funded this retool exists to speed the U.S. auto industry’s shift to electrified manufacturing. What it’s actually paying for at Lansing Grand River, for now, is a V-series-adjacent sedan with a combustion engine under the hood.