GM Offers to Spend $7.7 Billion on U.S. Plants

General Motors Co. has offered to invest $7.7 billion in its U.S. plants if United Auto Workers union members ratify a proposed four-year labor contract next week.

The investments would preserve or create about 9,000 jobs through 2023, says Automotive News, which cites a copy of the proposed deal.

The newspaper says the investments would include:

• $3 billion to convert GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant into a factory that makes battery modules and electric pickup trucks and vans. The facility had been scheduled to close in January.
   
• $2 billion to update a variety of manufacturing operations in the U.S.
   
• $1.5 billion to prepare the company’s Wentzville (Mo.) assembly plant to build next-generation midsize pickup trucks
   
• $1 billion to retool plants in Lansing, Mich., and Spring Hill, Tenn., to make next-generation midsize SUV/crossover vehicles
   
• $200 million to expand GM’s Warren, Mich. preproduction facility for new-vehicle programs

AN notes that the plan does not include a reprieve for three factories GM has already shuttered: Lordstown, Ohio (Chevrolet Cruze sedans); Baltimore, Md. (electric motors and hybrid transmissions); and Warren, Mich. (conventional transmissions).