A line worker works on a full-size General Motors pickup truck chassis at the Flint Assembly Plant on June 12, 2019 in Flint, Michigan.
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty Images
Flint, Michigan — general motors plans to invest about $1 billion in four U.S. plants to support the production of parts for electric vehicles and next-generation V8 engines.
GM’s $918 million investment announced on Friday comes despite the automaker’s plans to exclusively offer fully electric vehicles by 2035. It’s the latest example of traditional automakers such as GM having to balance their current vehicle lineup with emerging EVs.
The majority of the investment ($579 million) will be used to prepare GM’s Flint Engine Operations plant in Michigan for the automaker’s sixth-generation family of small-block V-8 gas engines.
This engine powers some of the automakers’ most profitable products, including full-size pickup trucks and SUVs. It is also used in some Cadillac and Chevrolet performance vehicles.
GM said work at the Flint facility will begin soon, signaling the imminent arrival of the next-generation V-8 engine. The automaker declined to elaborate on engine timing, performance and other details, with the last new family of V-8 engines arriving in 2013.
GM said the rest of the investment will be in other parts operations in Michigan, Ohio and New York, targeting gas-powered components such as camshafts and manifolds, as well as castings to support future EVs. It says.
