Detroit: General Motors plans to spend USD 5.4 billion to improve its US factories during the next three years, creating about 650 new jobs.
The company gave details of USD 783.5 million of the investments today and says the rest will be announced in the coming months.
The investments come as Detroit automakers prepare for contract talks with the United Auto Workers union that will start this summer, and as many automakers including GM are announcing plans to build or expand factories in lower-cost Mexico.
GM, like the others, is walking a line between moving more production south of the border and of keeping the union happy with additional investments in the US.
GM says it will spend USD 520 million on equipment for future models at its Delta Township plant near Lansing, Michigan. The company's pre-production center in Warren, Michigan, near Detroit will get USD 139.5 million for a new body shop and metal stamping equipment. And the metal stamping plant in Pontiac, Michigan, will get USD 124 million.
Spokesman Bill Grotz wouldn't say if any of the remaining USD 4.6 million would go to expand GM's Arlington, Texas, plant that makes large SUVs. The plant is running flat-out to meet demand for vehicles such as the Chevrolet Tahoe, which has seen sales rise 33 percent so far this year. Low gas prices have added to a shift in the US market from cars to SUVs.
The investment in the Delta Township, Michigan, factory, which now make GM's large crossover SUVs such as the Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia, will go for equipment for unspecified new vehicles to be built there. Grotz wouldn't identify the vehicles or say if they are likely to be SUVs.
