“With this extraordinary step forward, GM is making it crystal clear that taking action to eliminate pollution from all new light-duty vehicles by 2035 is an essential element of any automaker’s business plan,” Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp said in GM’s release Thursday. “EDF and GM have had some important differences in the past, but this is a new day in America — one where serious collaboration to achieve transportation electrification, science-based climate progress and equitably shared economic opportunity can move our nation forward.”
It was not clear Thursday where that plan leaves the jointly owned DMAX truck engine manufacturing operation in Moraine, which is scheduled to be joined by a new plant in Brookville this year.
The DMAX operation, owned by GM and Japanese truck producer Isuzu since 2000, makes diesel engines for heavy-duty trucks.
“We are still planning to open Brookville,” GM spokesman Daniel Flores said in response to questions from this news outlet. “The Brookville plant is an important part of strengthening our current core business.”
Flores said GM will continue to make “prudent business decisions when it comes to running and strengthening our core business, because a strong current core business enables us to invest in our all-electric future. We remain committed to our employees and communities in which we live and work.”
He added: “We are not going to speculate about the future of any facility.”
In its statement, GM characterized its objective as an “aspiration.”
GM said it will offer 30 all-electric models globally by mid-decade and 40% of the company’s U.S. models will have electric batteries by the end of 2025.
GM also said it is investing $27 billion in electric and autonomous vehicles in the next five years — up from the $20 billion planned before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the coming years, GM plans to offer an EV for every customer, from crossovers and SUVs to trucks and sedans,” the automaker said.
The DMAX joint venture has thrived for decades, continuing to operate through economic downturns and more, surviving even after a nearby former GM SUV-assembly plant, also in Moraine, shut down in late 2008.
And DMAX has expanded, as well. Construction is all but complete in the area of West Campus Boulevard and Collective Way in Brookville on the new GM-owned DMAX plant.
The new plant is expected to have about 100 employees.
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