As First Volts Hit Showrooms on Schedule, GM Hires 1,000 EV Engineers
Wow! We should take over more auto companies! GM now says it’s taking on 1,000 engineers and researchers in Michigan to significantly expand its vehicle electrification expertise and lead in the development of more electric vehicles with extended-range capability, like the Chevrolet Volt.
Already, GM has invested more than $700 million in eight facilities in Michigan to support Volt production. GM has the industry’s largest and most technologically advanced battery systems lab at its Warren, Michigan Technical Center and has invested $336 million at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, home of the Volt.
It invested another $43 million at the industry’s only battery pack manufacturing plant in Brownstown Township, Michigan. An additional $162 million investment was announced last week to support powertrain operations in Flint and Bay City, Michigan, and Defiance, Ohio.
So, GM has paid back the taxpayer money, has delivered its game-changing car, and done so on schedule, and is now raising the number of electric vehicle engineers to a higher level than any other auto company.
And manufacturing purchasing is going up in the region, according to the Purchasing Managers’ Index. Southeast Michigan has been up for the last eight months at 67.1, up for the eighth straight month and a solid 10.2 points above the national score of 56.9.
Congratulations to our own Gummint Motors! And it is good news for Michigan. We know that the state has been among the hardest hit by the econapocalypse after the record high gas prices of 2008.
Image: Eric Lafforge
Susan kraemer@Twitter
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