© 2024 MICHIGAN PUBLIC
91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

GM to invest $877 million in Flint Assembly

General Motors

General Motors shut many of its Flint facilities over the past 30 years.  The devastating effect on the city of Flint was the subject of a famous movie, "Roger and Me," by filmmaker Michael Moore.

But Flint Assembly -- GM's oldest assembly plant in North America -- remains. 

The automaker's $877 million investment ensures the plant will be one of its most important facilities for the foreseeable future. 

The money will go to build a new body shop for the assembly plant, locating it closer to Flint Metal Center, as well as retooling, new equipment, and improvements to the general assembly area inside Flint Assembly plant.

Flint Assembly is one of two plants building Chevrolet and GMC full-size pickups.   The other is in Fort Wayne, IN where GM will invest $1.2 billion.

Credit General Motors
/
General Motors
GM's U.S. investments announced in 2015

Overall, since its bankruptcy in 2009, General Motors has spent $17.8 billion on its U.S. facilities.

The new jobs associated with all that money is a modest number - 6,250.

But the investment signals job security for a much larger number of workers, about 20,700.  That's because car companies rarely invest in plants unless they have an intent to keep them operating long-term.

Tracy Samilton covers energy and transportation, including the auto industry and the business response to climate change for Michigan Public. She began her career at Michigan Public as an intern, where she was promptly “bitten by the radio bug,” and never recovered.