LORDSTOWN, Ohio — Village leaders in Ohio have approved a tax break for General Motors and its new electric battery plant that's expected to hire 1,100 workers.
The 75% tax abatement (according to the Associated Press) comes nearly a year after GM closed its assembly plant in the village of Lordstown that once employed 4,500 workers. The new plant will focus on electric vehicle batteries as part of a partnership between the automaker and LG Chem, and officials plan to break ground later this year.
It will be built next to the site of the former assembly plant. Local leaders say the tax break was needed to secure the new jobs.
GM stopped making cars at its Lordstown plant last March after over 50 years of production, selling the facility to a new electric pickup truck startup called Lordstown Motors.