{"id":59938,"date":"2013-04-04T10:54:49","date_gmt":"2013-04-04T14:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=59938"},"modified":"2013-04-04T10:54:49","modified_gmt":"2013-04-04T14:54:49","slug":"gm-investing-332-mil-for-high-mileage-powertrains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2013\/04\/gm-investing-332-mil-for-high-mileage-powertrains\/","title":{"rendered":"GM Investing $332 Mil for High-Mileage Powertrains"},"content":{"rendered":"
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GM will add several variants of the new Ecotec family, including a 1.0-liter 3-cylinder.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

General Motors will invest $332 million to gear up four plants to launch an array of new powertrain components, including all-new 3-, 4- and 6-cylinders engines, as well as a new 8-speed transmission.<\/p>\n

In a complex announcement, the maker also revealed plans to boost a previous investment at two Michigan plants by $46 million.\u00a0 In all, the new and expanded programs will bring to $1.8 billion the money GM has committed to updating six Midwest powertrain facilities since just 2009.<\/p>\n

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News You Can Use!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe are investing in technologies and manufacturing capabilities that produce high-quality, fuel-efficient vehicles and components for our customers,\u201d said Diana Tremblay, vice president of GM North American Manufacturing.<\/p>\n

The figures released today do not include the actually development costs of the new powertrain systems, which can add a billion or more to the various programs, according to industry analysts.<\/p>\n

The largest portion of the new investment, $215 million, will go towards tooling up for an all-new global line of Ecotec gasoline engines that will be produced in both 3- and 4-cylinder configurations in displacements ranging from 1.0 to 1.5-liters.<\/p>\n

With fuel prices hovering near record levels, American motorists have been rapidly downsizing, especially when it comes to engine size.\u00a0 The biggest shift has been from six to four-cylinder designs. But there\u2019s a small but burgeoning market for inline-three powertrains, industry planners forecast. Ford has a new I-3 for the Fiesta line, for example, and BMW will add one for its new i8 plug-in hybrid in 2014.<\/p>\n

Eventually, GM expects the new Ecotec engine series could generate sales of 2 million or more annually.<\/p>\n

Despite declining market share, V-6 engines are still one of the industry\u2019s workhorses. And they\u2019re actually gaining ground in some segments. More than half of the full-sized Ford F-Series pickups, for example, now use V-6s instead of more traditional V-8s. GM is expecting something of a similar shift.<\/p>\n

But the maker has declined to provide specifics about the new six or where it will be used at the moment.<\/p>\n

Another major shift in an industry facing tough new mileage standards is the use of advanced transmissions. The $332 million investment program will expand the capacity for 6-speed automatics but also help launch production of an even more fuel-efficient 8-speed transmission, according to GM.<\/p>\n

The various new programs are expected to save 1,650 jobs at six different plants in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

General Motors will invest $332 million to gear up four plants to launch an array of new powertrain components, including all-new 3-, 4- and 6-cylinders engines, as well as a new 8-speed transmission. More from TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59938"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59938"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=59938"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=59938"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=59938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}