GM To Invest $325M In Warren Plant, Adding Over 400 Jobs
WARREN (WWJ) - General Motors is investing $325 million in its Warren Powertrain Plant, to prepare the facility to build electric motors for future electric vehicles. The company says that will add or retain 418 jobs.
GM Manufacturing Chief Gerald Johnson said the investment will help the company build the vehicles of the future.
"I'm pleased to announce that GM will invest $325 million here in the Warren transmission facility, to install tooling and equipment that supports a new electric drive unit module of production for future electric vehicles," Johnson said.
"This investment does demonstrate how GM working with our UAW partners, will continue to innovate and bring new electrification solutions to our customers," Johnson continued.
GM said the investment was made possible by the company's new contract with the UAW. The union said the jobs being added in Warren were originally planned for GM plants in Mexico.
The company didn't say anything about product that will get the new electric drive systems. Timing wasn't disclosed either.
The Warren Powertrain Plant, at Mound Road and 9 Mile, currently employs 679 workers. The transmissions made there go into GM's mid-size crossover vehicles and the Chevy Malibu sedan. The facility produced ten thousand transmissions in 2010.
UAW Region 1 Director Chuck Hall said it's nice to see that GM is growing again.
"I'm going to tell you, this is just the start of the wave to bringing jobs back home," Hall said.
And workers at the Warren Plant feel the same way.
"I think it's really great news. You know, it's something that will help our plant and that I think will provide more jobs," worker Kenneth Goldstein said.
Other workers, like David Olrich, are glad to see GM back in expansion mode.
"I think it will put more people to work. We build great transmissions here and I think it will help the community," he said.
GM said with a UAW deal now in place, we can expect to hear more announcements like this in the near future.
