GM is investing $230 million in the production of Chevrolet Cruze and Volt
General Motors will support the production off 2011 Chevrolet Cruze and Volt by investing $230 million in four GM plants. Those plants will produce next generation fuel-efficient vehicles. Besides that the plants will be ECO-friendly by recycling more than 97 percent of the waste they generate.
GM is investing $202 million in the first plant – Flint Engine South. The project represents approximately 240 employees and the main goal is to renovate the former I5/I6 manufacturing operations for production of a 1.4L four-cylinder engine generator for the Chevrolet Volt and a 1.4L four-cylinder turbo engine for the Cruze.
The second plant is Flint Metal Center. Total investment is $1.7 million and it is made to refurbish press lines that will produce sheet metal stampings for the Volt. This plant will represent 30 employees.
Next plant is Flint Tool and Die. The facility is responsible for constructing and tryout of stamping die sets for the Volt program. Approximately 50 percent of dies for the Volt were designed at this facility.
The last facility is Grand Blanc Weld Tool Center. The investment in it is $30 million. It is designed to build the robotic weld tool cells that will assemble the Volt body at the Volt assembly plant. Approximately 250 employees are working on this project, including 60 who are installing the weld tool equipment at the assembly plant.
Chevrolet Cruze is expected to launch next spring. This is a compact car powered by 1.4 litre 4 cylinder turbo engine. The goal is to achieve better fuel consumption than the current leader Chevrolet Cobalt XFE which can run 37mpg at the highway.
Chevrolet Volt will be released late 2010. The electric car will be capable of doing up to 40 miles on single charge of its batteries. The overall range will be more than 300 miles by using the flex fuel-powered 1.4L engine-generator, which will be produced at Flint Engine South.
