General Motors announces today it will invest $5.4 billion at a number of U.S. manufacturing facilities, as the automaker revs its production engine for a steady product cadence over the next several years.
The investment, which GM North America President Alan Batey details at the automaker’s Pontiac, MI, Metal Center, a recipient of $124 million of the outlay, also comes ahead of pivotal UAW contract negotiations this summer.
A key bargaining point of the talks will be keeping GM’s labor costs competitive with non-union transplant automakers building in the U.S., likely in return for continued investment in the region.
“These investments are evidence of a company on the move, strategically investing in the people, tools and equipment to produce cars, trucks and crossovers that are built to win in the marketplace, with stunning design, quality and breakthrough technologies,” Batey says in a statement ahead of the announcement.
The Pontiac Metal Center investment is part of $783.5 million going to three Michigan facilities. PMC will use the money for tooling to pre-test all major vehicle body panel dies under regular production conditions, which the automaker says will allow its stamping plants across the country produce quality parts in a shorter time period.
GM’s pre-production operations in nearby Warren will receive $139.5 million for a new body shop and stamping facility upgrades. The objective of the upgrades, GM says, is to uncover potential issues before regular production begins.
The biggest chunk of the Michigan money, $520 million, will go to GM’s Lansing Delta Twp. assembly plant for new products. The facility builds the automaker’s popular large CUVs, the Chevrolet Traverse, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia. Redesigned models of the Traverse and Acadia are due in 2017, according to a WardsAuto forecast. Production of the Acadia is expected to shift to Spring Hill, TN. The Lansing outlay will retain 1,900 jobs.
The automaker says it will detail the remaining $4.6 billion in plant investments over the next several months.
GM currently is pursuing tax breaks to upgrade its Fairfax, KS, assembly plant, which makes the Chevy Malibu and Buick LaCrosse sedans, and its large SUV works in Arlington, TX.
Spring Hill already has been awarded money to add the Acadia and a planned Cadillac CUV, while Lordstown, OH, has its investment for the redesigned Chevy Cruze compact car and Detroit-Hamtramck won an outlay to tool up soon for the next-generation Malibu and all-new Cadillac CT6 large luxury sedan.
Outside of manufacturing, it was revealed earlier this month that GM additionally wants to make a nearly $1 billion investment in its Warren technical center, where advanced design, engineering and manufacturing research occurs.
The U.S. investments prepare GM for a steady product cadence over the next several years, a key result of the automaker’s restructuring that saw it insulate itself better from ups and downs in new-vehicle sales. Previously, GM’s product releases would come unevenly because of its shaky finances, but since 2009 the automaker has reported 21 consecutive quarters of profitability.
Since emerging from bankruptcy six years ago, GM has completed or detailed U.S. investment plans totaling $16.8 billion.
