NEW YORK — Cadillac will open their dedicated Formula 1 engine factory in Charlotte, North Carolina on 18 December, General Motors president Mark Reuss has confirmed as the American manufacturer builds towards becoming a full power unit supplier from 2029.
Reuss announced the date at the Autosport Business Exchange in New York, stating: "We're opening our whole engine factory, if you will, in Charlotte, North Carolina on 18 December," adding "So that's coming really well." General Motors were approved by the FIA in 2025 to supply power units from the 2029 season onwards, with new facilities under construction at their Charlotte base.
The timing may prove suboptimal. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has committed to Formula 1 switching back to V8 engines — potentially running on sustainable fuel with a smaller share of electric power — by 2031, and possibly as early as 2030, which would leave GM's new powertrain with just one or two seasons under the current regulations. In the meantime Cadillac are running customer Ferrari power units and remain the only outfit yet to score a point in 2026, with the MAC-26 having qualified slowest of all at the last four rounds.
Reuss said the team are determined to move forward and thanked veterans Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas for their patience during a difficult maiden campaign in which both have recorded their worst career results. "You know, we’re not here to finish last, so we’ve got to follow through and build this team, build the powertrain and build the car, like we did in GTP," he said. "That takes a little more time here, because this is a place where we've never raced. You’ve got to get the right people with the right engineers and the right drivers, and we’ve got to get that process really going, and it's logarithmic, it's not linear."
"You can't win every race – no one can win every race – so when it happens, when they have a day that is unfortunate, or mistakes were made, they move on from that race and perfect their craft – whether it's with the car or themselves, or their physicality, or whatever that is – and they drive for that perfection," Reuss said. "Both of these gentlemen in the race for us do that, and they really understand what it takes and the process. I'm very, very happy that they're patient with us, to be honest; that takes a special person."