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 GM, the No. 1 U.S. automaker, said the investment at the plants in
Michigan, Ohio and Indiana will create or retain about 1,000 jobs
combined, but did not say how many will be new jobs. The five plants
employ about 7,500 people.
The investment is part of $8 billion that GM typically spends
annually on its global operations and will be used to make a new
10-speed transmission and boost planned output of a new V6 engine,
as well as support production of an existing 6-speed transmission,
the company said. GM also will add a new paint shop and logistics
center.
Since 2009, when GM emerged from bankruptcy with the help of a $49.5
billion U.S. taxpayer bailout, the company has announced investments
of more than $10.1 billion in its U.S. operations, including $2.8
billion this year alone.
GM has made a series of announcements as the end of the year
approaches, including the promotion of product development chief
Mary Barra to chief executive, starting next month. The Detroit
company will also drop its Chevrolet brand in Europe and end
manufacturing in Australia. It also has sold stakes in French
automaker Peugeot and its former finance arm Ally Financial.
"Today's announced plant upgrades continue the momentum of a
resurgent auto industry," GM North American President Mark Reuss
said in a statement. "More importantly, these investments add up to
higher quality and more fuel-efficient vehicles."
The largest piece, $600 million, will be spent in the Flint,
Michigan, assembly plant, where the heavy-duty Chevy Silverado and
GMC Sierra full-size pickup trucks are built, for upgrades that
include a new paint shop.
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More than $493 million will be invested at the Romulus, Michigan,
powertrain operation for new equipment to build an all-new 10-speed
automatic transmission as well as boost production of the previously
announced new V6 engine, the company said.
GM said details about the 10-speed transmission, which is intended
to boost fuel economy, and the V6 engine will be announced later.
The rest of the money will be spent at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck
assembly plant, where the Chevy Volt, Malibu and Impala cars are
built, for a logistics center; at the Toledo, Ohio, powertrain plant
for increased capacity of an existing 6-speed transmission and
tooling for a new variant; and at the Bedford, Indiana, castings
plant to make parts for the 10-speed transmission and existing
6-speed transmission, GM said.
GM previously said it was also spending about $332 million at four
U.S. plants, including Toledo and Bedford, and made a small
investment in Romulus.
Current CEO Dan Akerson is scheduled to give a speech in Washington
on Monday at the National Press Club.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Flint,
Mich.; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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