General Motors has plans to invest nearly $1.3 billion in two assembly plants and three powertrain plants located in several different states. The plants receiving this investment are spread out in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.
There are a total of five facilities which will be getting upgrades to produce new fuel efficient engines and transmissions as well as streamline current logistics. The investments are also expected to create or retain about 1,000 jobs.
General Motors says the plants affected will be in Detroit, Romulus, and Flint, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio, and Bedford, Indiana. All five plants will be supporting production of an existing 6-speed transmission as well as a new 10-speed transmission and a new V6.
The Flint, Michigan plant, which currently builds light-duty and heavy-duty pickups, will get $600 million for upgrades that include a new paint shop. The Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant is getting $121 million for a new logistics optimization center. This plant produces the Chevy Malibu, Impala and Volt.
The Romulus Powertrain Operations will get $493.4 million which includes $343.4 million to produce a new 10-speed automatic transmission and $150 million toward increasing capacity of a new V6 that was previously announced. This is on top of a $390 million retooling happening at that plant which resulted in the layoff of 500 workers through 2015.
Outside of Michigan, General Motors will be investing $30.6 million in the Toledo Transmission Operations in Ohio in order to increase capacity on the existing 6-speed transmission. They will also be making changes to accommodate an upcoming new variant.
General Motors final investment will be $29.2 million toward the Bedford Castings in Indiana. This will include $22.6 million for making the components of the new 10-speed transmission with the remaining $6.6 million going toward components for an existing 6-speed.
Since 2009, General Motors has invested $10.1 billion in its US operations with $2.8 billion of that coming in the current year. They estimate that those investments have created or retained about 26,500 jobs.
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.
