GM investing $449M in Hamtramck and Brownstown for next-gen electrification; vehicles and batteries
08 April 2014
In preparation for the next generation of electric vehicles and advanced battery technologies, General Motors will invest $449 million to upgrade manufacturing processes at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly and Brownstown Battery Assembly plants.
The investment is the largest to date at both facilities and includes $384 million at Detroit-Hamtramck for new body shop tooling, equipment, and additional plant upgrades to build the next generation Chevrolet Volt and two future products. This brings GM’s total investment at Detroit-Hamtramck to more than $1 billion over the last five years.
GM’s $65-million investment at its Brownstown Battery Assembly will support the next generation of lithium-ion battery production and future battery systems.
Since 2009, GM has announced more than $5.4 billion in US facility investment for vehicle technologies that benefit customers. This includes more than $2.8 billion invested in Michigan-based facilities alone.
The Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant is the only automotive plant producing GM’s extended-range electric vehicles—including the Volt, Cadillac ELR and Opel Ampera—for markets in 33 countries.
Detroit-Hamtramck also builds the Chevrolet Malibu and Impala sedans and is home to a 264,000-square-foot photovoltaic solar array that can generate up to 516 kW of electricity, or enough to charge 150 electric vehicles per day.
Brownstown Battery Assembly’s 479,000-square-foot, landfill-free facility south of Detroit produces the lithium-ion battery packs for GM’s extended-range electric vehicles. It started mass production in October 2010 and is the first high-volume manufacturing site in the US operated by a major automaker for automotive lithium-ion battery production. The site was made possible with the help of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding through the US Department of Energy.
So, according to the wingnuts, GM is losing money on these. So why would they do this if they were losing money? Oh, oh, oh, I know, it's the socialists in congress and the president that are forcing them to do it. We need a reincarnation of the Joe McCarthy hearings to find and eliminate the infiltrators in congress and the government. Back to facism people, like we always do because we fear being free. We want a strong central government, as created by Reagan and Bush and Bush to protect us from evil doers. You know, not one that helps the poor, but enslaves them, while pursuing CIA initiated overthrows of nations we need resources from. It helps if the drugs grow good there too. Like Columbia and Afghanistan.
Posted by: Brotherkenny4 | 09 April 2014 at 12:02 PM
GM is losing money on these cars. Actual losses are not as big as the development amortization that Forbes mentioned a year or so ago, but they do not yet produce a profit. The retooling is about many things, among the more important being cost reduction and making a more marketable product.
I leased a Volt briefly and was very impressed with it, so no ding on the technology or its implementation. But it isn't yet a money maker.
I don't understand how a post on product line profitability devolves into another "fascism" rant.
Posted by: Herman | 09 April 2014 at 08:32 PM