GM is all in on electrification of its entire line of vehicles starting now. And it’s all about keeping jobs in the U.S. In January, it announced it was investing $7 billion in new factories and technology, which will need 4,000 jobs to fulfill. And the Biden administration, anxious for any good news on investments and jobs, hailed GM’s news as powering “a historic American manufacturing comeback.” 

Will Chevy’s 2024 Blazer EV be built in the U.S.?

This week, the electric cornerstone for GM’s onslaught of EVs, the 2024 Chevy Blazer, was shown. It’s signaling exactly where the corporation is headed. And that direction is Mexico, not the U.S. In all of the hoopla, GM let it slip that its highly anticipated EV will be built in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico. A $1 billion investment will fuel it. In Mexico.

In President Biden’s 2022 State of the Union address, he again heaped praise on GM for its investment. GM gets out of its skin for the opportunity to sing from the highest mountaintops it is helping America. And it got the President of the U.S. to help with that messaging. It’s a great success story for a company that Americans bailed out less than 15 years ago, remember? 

It is also the company that has used the power of the presidency to do its PR. And also the company that wants the U.S. to subsidize EVs. And with all of that, it is dropping $1 billion to help make those EVs, with little benefit to the U.S. That just doesn’t seem right. 

Should GM use the President of the U.S. when the Chevy Blazer won’t be built here?

Going back to November 2019, the President gifted GM with his tour of Factory Zero in Detroit. He told GM CEO Mary Barra, “In the auto industry, Detroit is leading the world in electric vehicles. You know how critical it is? Mary, I remember talking to you way back in January about the need for America to lead in electric vehicles. I can remember your dramatic announcement that by 2035 GM would be 100% electric. You changed the whole story, You did, Mary, you electrified the entire automotive industry. I’m serious. You led, and it matters”

Many thought otherwise, given that Tesla was the stalking horse for all of the EV companies that have come after it. Remember, the Tesla Model S debuted eight years before Biden’s trip to Detroit. Not that we’re Tesla or Elon Musk fanboys. It’s just a fact. 

Is there a good reason for using labor in Mexico instead of here?

The U.S. has the most skilled workforce in the world. That’s partially because we have the finest engineers and scientists in the world, so one works hand-in-glove with the other. And while a $1 billion investment elsewhere pales to the $7 billion planned for here, that’s not the point. 

We harbor no ill will toward Mexico. It needs investments and job creation like all countries. But GM has built its EV campaign around the exceptionalism of the U.S. To most American buyers, they’ll be proud to support a U.S. company investing in the U.S., by purchasing hundreds of thousands of Blazers. Except, it may have swept past them that it is a product of Mexico, not America. Then, how should they feel about their American purchase?