GM Reportedly to Build Chevrolet Malibu as Well as Volt at Detroit-Hamtramck Plant
By Scott Doggett December 9, 2009
General Motors Co. will build the 2012 Chevrolet Malibu at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, The Detroit News has learned, adding to news announced earlier this week that the automaker plans to spend $336 million upgrading the factory to also produce the Chevrolet Volt.
The Malibu move is a major production shift for one of GM's best-selling vehicles and a coup for Michigan, which has given the automaker incentives worth several hundred million dollars to build vehicles in a state hit hard by manufacturing job losses.
The Volt announcement boosts GM's total investment in the extended-range electric car to $700 million in Michigan, the News reported Tuesday.
Jon Lauckner, GM vice president of global product planning, confirmed there are plans to build new vehicles at the plant, including the Opel Ampera, the European version of the Volt. The Ampera initially will be built there, but he declined to be specific about additional models.
However, UAW Local 22 chairman Frank Moultrie told the News Monday that GM has committed to building the 2012 Malibu at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant. That means the plant would build one of the most technologically advanced vehicles in the Volt and the next-generation Malibu, which is currently built at GM's Fairfax plant in Kansas.
It is unclear whether adding Malibu production will require more workers at the plant, which employs 1,013 hourly and 133 salaried workers. It opened in 1985 and also produces the Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne.
Workers at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant also hope to land future vehicles that share the Volt's electric underpinnings. The News first reported last month GM's board of directors approved building the Cadillac Converj, a luxury version of the Volt.
"We're trying to get the whole line of electric vehicles," Moultrie said. "If we did, we would be putting our best foot forward."
GM spokesman Chris Lee declined to comment on bringing Malibu production to Detroit-Hamtramck.
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