The proposal for the new plant in the early '80s came as Detroit was starting to slip from the heights of its postwar manufacturing power. As the Detroit News recounted in 2000, by 1980 auto plants were beginning to close in the region. The GM plant on the Poletown area was designed to replace an aging Cadillac factory, and the proposal would keep 6,000 jobs within the city limits. It would be GM's first new factory construction in Motor City in decades.