But GM was quick to put some distance between Trump's remarks and the investments, saying the plans leading to the Friday, March 22, announcement were made weeks in advance. Asked about those remarks, Barra said what mattered was that she and the president agreed on the merits of a strong U.S. manufacturing base.
"We want to create jobs — good-paying jobs — and we're excited to be doing that here today, and we're going to stay on that focus," she said. "I think that's where there's a common message."
Barra also voiced support for the pending United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which Trump has championed as a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement.
She touted the trade deal as recognizing "the complexity of the auto industry and the supply chain" and cited its stricter rules of origin as one reason why the company decided to build the forthcoming electric vehicle at Orion Assembly. The rules require that 75 percent of a vehicle's content be classified as North American to cross borders duty- free, up from NAFTA's 62.5 percent.
"We support USMCA," she said. "We think there was a lot of work that was done in modernizing it."
Barra said GM originally intended to build the vehicle outside the U.S., but wouldn't say where.
The new Chevrolet EV will be based on the Bolt EV, which Orion Assembly builds alongside the Chevy Sonic subcompact.
The plan to build it as a Chevy signals that GM still sees some mass-market appeal for EVs even after it discontinued its Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid and positioned its Cadillac luxury brand to lead its electrification efforts.
The coming vehicle is expected to be the first for the U.S. under GM's plan to release at least 20 new battery or fuel cell powered vehicles globally by 2023.
GM provided no other information about the vehicle or its launch timing.
