GM Will Spend $370 Million on Chevy Volt Engine Plant in Flint, Michigan

[Purveyor]

By Greg Bensinger and Mike Ramsey

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., working to boost output of 4-cylinder engines for small cars, is investing $370 million to build a factory in Michigan to supply its Chevrolet Volt plug-in and Cruze compact.

The 552,000 square-foot factory in Flint will be completed in 2010, retaining 300 jobs, GM said today in a statement. The Detroit-based automaker will assemble conventional and turbocharged versions of its 1.4-liter engine.

Adding the plant will help GM meet its goal of doubling production of the engines by 2011 as gasoline at more than $3.50 this year saps demand for its large pickups and sport-utility vehicles. The largest U.S. automaker is scrambling to increase capacity to make more cars and smaller SUVs.

The turbocharged engine will be used in GM's Cruze, a model that will go into production in two years in Ohio for sale worldwide. Turbochargers improve performance by pulling compressed air into an engine's cylinders, delivering more power without using more fuel.

Chevrolet's Volt, which is still under development, is designed to run 40 miles (64 kilometers) on electric power drawn from a wall socket before the engine kicks in to recharge the battery. GM plans to begin selling the vehicle in November 2010.

BLOOMBERG: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aMk44TXEROWc&refer=us

[Romulox]

1. Excellent. I'm seriously wondering if I'm going to have get on a waiting list for a Volt. nt

[RoccoR5955]

6. There's an unofficial waiting list...

...over at http://gm-volt.com. As of now there are over 41,000 on the list. I think I am like number 3000 something.

Good for GM. They need to bring the jobs back to Flint, and other parts of the rust belt. They can afford to sink this amount of money into such a project, from all the profits that they are making in other parts of the world.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Sweet! Heaven knows we need Volts and Flint needs work, so it's all good

[LeftinOH]

3. Good for GM building it smack in the 'rust belt'; its a refreshing change...n/t

[tjwash]

4. That's great news! Flint needs the work, and they definitely have the automotive talent there.

[crickets]

8. That was my first thought too. Jobs! Yay! -nt

[Blue_Tires]

12. +1

[VeraAgnes]

5. Mccain will try and take credit for this too.

Good news for Michigan. I hope this is a positive sign for US industry!

[flvegan]

7. Great news! I was waiting to hear where they were going to put this together.

American jobs for an American product. Nice work, GM!

[Fumesucker]

9. This is great news.. But...

This sentence is total bullshit..

Turbochargers improve performance by pulling compressed air into an engine's cylinders, delivering more power without using more fuel.

More power output = more fuel used..

An inescapable fact of physics.

Oh and a turbocharger doesn't "pull" more air into an engine, it "pushes" it.

It would be so nice if news organizations would employ people who actually have a clue about the stories they write.

What a turbocharger does is allow you to produce the same amount of power as a larger engine with a smaller one which can be more efficient at part throttle cruise, where engines spend most of their time.

[EOTE]

11. Not true. Efficiency is gained by allowing the engine to run at a lower compression.

When a smaller turbocharged engine is running off boost, it's burning the same amount (or less) fuel than a normally aspirated engine of equivalent power. This means that turbos generally consume less fuel than a NA engine with the same output. Also, many modern turbocharged engines can run leaner fuel to air ratios allowing them to consume less fuel even when producing the same amount of power. This is done in direct injection engines as well, but some would argue that DI engines are a form of forced injection too.

[sufrommich]

10. Wonderful news for Flint and GM workers! nt