Reuters – On Tuesday, General Motors Co (GM.N) confirmed that additional $1 billion to be invested by it in U.S. factories in 2017 and will go ahead to move some parts of production from Mexico to the United States which was being handled by a supplier before.
The investments are in addition to the $2.9 billion the automaker announced last year, GM said. (bit.ly/2iJ9xw0)
GM also made it clear that the $1 billion investment will create or retain 1,500 jobs. The Detroit automaker said details of individual projects will be announced throughout the year.
GM also said it will begin work on bringing axle production for its next generation of full-size pickup trucks, including work previously done in Mexico, to operations in Michigan, creating 450 U.S. jobs.
GM and other automakers have been sharply criticized by Republican U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for building vehicles in Mexico that are imported into the United States. Trump will be sworn in on Friday.
According to GM spokeswoman Joanne Krell, she said the automaker planned to add 7,000 new U.S. jobs over the next two to three years. Krell said the decisions being announced “had been in the works for some time” but she added “the timing was good for us to share what we are doing.”
The 7,000 figure includes the 450 jobs on axle production, 1,500 jobs tied to the $1 billion announcement and more than 5,000 new jobs tied to engineering, GM Financial and advanced technology.
GM said it had added about 6,000 U.S. jobs, consisting of 4,000 hourly and 2,000 salaried positions, since the end of 2015 for a total America n workforce of 103,000.
Also, since GM’s bankruptcy restructuring in 2009, when it had 77,000 U.S. employees, it has added more than 25,000 jobs as it boosted production, acquired an auto finance company and brought information technology work in house.
GM shares slightly rose in midday trading, up 0.2 percent, or $0.06 per share, to $37.40.
Since Trump made bringing back manufacturing to the United States a large part of his successful election campaign, did not directly mention GM on Tuesday but touted recent automaker investments in the United States.
“With all of the jobs I am bringing back into the U.S. (even before taking office), with all of the new auto plants coming back into our country and with the massive cost reductions I have negotiated on military purchases and more, I believe the people are seeing ‘big stuff,'” he wrote in a pair of tweets.
It was earlier noted that Hyundai Motor Group said Tuesday in South Korea that it plans to boost U.S. investment by 50 percent to $3.1 billion over five years and may build a new plant in the United States.
