GM Invests $900-M In Flint, 3 Other Plants

General Motors says it will spend more than $900 million to update four factories, with the bulk going to an engine plant in Flint, Michigan, to build the next-generation V8 for big pickup trucks and SUVs, Mike Householder and Tom Krisher reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: The truck assembly plant in Flint

Factories in Rochester, New York, Defiance, Ohio and Bay City, Michigan also will see investments, some to make V8 engine components as well as parts for future electric vehicles, the company said Friday.

The investments won’t create any new jobs, but they will preserve about 2,400 hourly and salaried positions at the four sites, the company said.

The investments “provide job security at these plants for years to come,” Gerald Johnson, GM’s manufacturing chief, said in a statement. Much of the money, $579 million, will go to Flint Engine Operations for equipment to build the sixth-generation small-block V8 that will go into the next round of big pickup trucks and SUVs.

The plant now employs about 700 people who also will keep making their current product, a diesel engine used in light trucks.

GM, like other automakers, is facing stricter government fuel economy standards and pollution limits starting in the 2024 model year.

New vehicles sold in the U.S. will have to average at least 40 miles per gallon of gasoline in 2026, up from about 28 mpg, under new Biden administration rules that undo a rollback of standards enacted under former President Donald Trump.

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