GM eliminates hundreds of positions at Warren Tech Center

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(FOX 2) – General Motors has eliminated several jobs at one of its Metro Detroit facilities, confirming that it was restructuring its design engineering team.

The layoffs at the Warren Tech Center arrive amid uncertainty in the auto industry, which has been navigating shifting behaviors among drivers interested in electric vehicles, as well as macroeconomic headwinds involving tariffs.

One expert that watches the industry said the restructuring wasn’t a surprise.

GM Layoffs in Warren

At least 200 salaried workers have been laid off at the Warren Tech Center as GM retools its engineering team.

Because there are tens of thousands of people employed at the facility, the layoffs represent only a small fraction of the total workforce at the building.

The latest:

Non-union positions involved in GM’s engineering sector were eliminated from the company, GM announced early Friday morning.

According to a statement sent from the company, GM says it was “restructuring our design engineering team to strengthen our core architectural design engineering capabilities.”

“As a result, a number of CAD execution roles have been eliminated. We recognize the efforts and accomplishments of the impacted team members, and we thank them for their contributions,” a spokesperson confirmed in a statement.

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The shakeup happens at an uncertain time for automakers, especially American-based companies, as they manage their way through shifting trends rankling the entire industry.

“Considering the environmental factors that are impacting General Motors and the entire automotive industry, it’s not surprising to see a restructuring like this. What they need to do is understand what resources they need deployed where to be most effective,” said Janell Townsend.

Townsend is an Oakland University professor who studies marketing and international business.

When asked if the layoffs were indicative of a larger trend that might be rippling through the industry, she cautioned about making any conclusions.

“There are about 21–22 thousand employees at the GM tech center. So we’re really talking about less than 1% of the workforce only at the Tech Center not even the entire metro Detroit area,” she said. “You take that into consideration, it’s a small number of people being laid off at the moment. Is it the canary in the coal mine? I don’t really think so. I think it’s more a matter of redeployment at the moment.”