General Motors to invest $918M in four U.S. sites

© Reuters

By Michael Elkins

General Motors (NYSE:GM) announced today that the carmaker plans to invest $918 million in four U.S. manufacturing sites, including $854M to prepare these facilities to produce the company’s sixth generation Small Block V-8 engine and an additional $64M in Rochester, New York and Defiance, Ohio for castings and components to support EV production. These investments will enable the company to strengthen its industry-leading full-size truck and SUV business and continue to support the company’s growing EV product portfolio.

"Today we are announcing significant investments to strengthen our industry-leading lineup of full-size pickups and SUVs by preparing four U.S. facilities to build GM’s sixth generation Small Block V-8 engine,” said Gerald Johnson, GM executive vice president of Global Manufacturing and Sustainability. “These investments, coupled with the hard work and dedication of our team members in Flint, Bay City, Rochester and Defiance, enable us to build world-class products for our customers and provide job security at these plants for years to come.”

$579M of the investment will go to the company’s factory in Flint Michigan to prepare the plant to assemble GM’s sixth generation family of Small Block V-8 gas engines along with the related block, crank and head machining. $216M will go to Bay City GPS in Michigan to prepare the facility to build camshafts, connecting rods and block/head machining to support Flint’s V-8 production.

GM will invest $55M in the Defiance facility in Ohio. $47M will be invested to prepare the facility to build a variety of block castings to support future V-8 engine programs. In addition, the investment includes $8M to build a casting development cell for castings to support future EV strategies.

Rochester Operations in New York will receive $68M, $12M of which will be invested to prepare the facility to build intake manifolds and fuel rails. In addition, the investment includes $56M to produce battery pack cooling lines for EV production.

“Our union celebrates the announcement of these new investments into our GM facilities, which will benefit our members at Locals 659 (Flint, Michigan), 362 (Bay City, Michigan), 211 (Defiance, Ohio) and 1097 (Rochester, New York),” said UAW President Ray Curry. “The skill and dedication of UAW members are a key part of GM’s success, and this investment recognizes that our members will remain a vital part of GM’s future.”

“The teams in Rochester and Defiance are also leading our transformation to an all-electric future,” Johnson added. “Their flexibility to build components for both internal combustion and electric vehicles highlights why our manufacturing team is second to none.”

Shares of GM are up 0.28% near end of day trading on Friday.