General
Motors Co. has said it will spend $483 million and add 483 jobs to its
powertrain complex in Spring Hill, TN, for building current- and
next-generation Ecotec four-cylinder engines.
According to GM, the additional work will bring the amount of its new
U.S. investment to almost $2.9 billion, along with the 7,417 jobs that
GM has created or retained in 20 U.S. plants since emerging from
bankruptcy in July 2009. Employees to fill these positions will be
recalled from layoff in accordance with the United Auto Workers-GM
National Labor agreement.
Currently, the Spring Hill Powertrain Plant produces three variants of
the Ecotec engine: the award-winning Ecotec 2.4L with direct injection
(DI) is found in the Equinox, Terrain, LaCrosse, Buick Regal, Chevrolet
Captiva (Mexico) and Daewoo Alpheon (Korea); the Ecotec 2.0L DI Turbo
is used in models of the Opel Insignia (Europe), Buick LaCrosse
(China), and Regal; and the Ecotec 2.4L Multiport Fuel Injection
engines are shipped to Korea for the Captiva and Antara.
The bulk of the investment – $460 million and 453 hourly and salaried jobs – is planned for the next-generation Ecotec engines.
The additional Spring Hill powertrain production follows announcements
in February of $494 million for additional capacity at GM plants in
Tonawanda, NY, Defiance, OH, and Bay City, MI. Those projects are
expected to result in about 550 jobs.
