Christal Finklea-Vancourt dresses an engine for a Chevrolet Sonic at Orion Assembly. The line side delivery process for parts was recently re-designed to be more efficient.
General Motors said today it would invest another $245 million and add 300 new jobs at its Orion Assembly plant in Michigan to support launching an all-new unnamed vehicle in the 32-year old facility. Investment in Orion now totals $962 million since the UAW and GM worked together to reopen the previously idled plant in 2010.
Since June 2009, GM has announced U.S. facility investments of approximately $17.8 billion.
About $12.4 billion of that has come since the 2011 UAW-GM National Agreement. In total, these investments have created 6,250 new jobs and secured the positions of approximately 20,700 others. The 2011 UAW-GM National Agreement is up for renewal by this September, with the two-tier wage system a major potential point of contention between the Detroit Three and the UAW.
The latest GM move comes just seven months after the announcement of a $160-million investment to launch Chevrolet’s Bolt EV that is expected to have more than 200 miles of range on a single electric charge.
Today’s announcement is a part of the $5.4 billion GM has announced it will invest in U.S. manufacturing over the next three years. Approximately $3.1 billion of the $5.4 billion has been identified, leaving $2.3 billion to be announced by year-end.
