GM shifting Cadillac SUV production to U.S. from Mexico
Line workers Robert Honaker, William Stewart and Doug Cain assemble a Chevrolet Equinox Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014, on at a General Motors plant in Spring Hill, Tenn. Credit: Alan Poizner for General Motors
General Motors Co., the largest U.S. automaker, said it will move production of the Cadillac SRX sport utility vehicle to a Tennessee factory from Mexico.
The Spring Hill, Tennessee, complex will also get a $185 million investment for small gasoline engines, the Detroit-based automaker said Wednesday in a statement. GM spokesman Alan Adler said in a telephone interview that with the revamped version of the SRX, output will shift from Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.
The SRX is Cadillac’s best-selling vehicle, with U.S. sales rising 16 percent this year through July. The Detroit-based automaker this month announced the next-generation SRX would arrive next year along with a new top-range car and new high-performance V-versions of Cadillac’s ATS and CTS.
“Today’s announcement is proof we can achieve great things when workers have a seat at the table and the chance to share their ideas for how to constantly improve the products we manufacture,” Cindy Estrada, a vice president of the United Auto Workers union, said in an emailed statement.
Last year, GM raised its planned investment in the complex to $350 million and promising that two midsized vehicles would be built there.
Spring Hill, which used to build Saturns, made the Chevy Traverse until November 2009 and now has a flexible setup to produce the Chevy Equinox SUV, four-cylinder engines and other parts, according to GM’s website. About 2,300 people work at the complex.
GM also said Wednesday that it plans to invest $48 million at its Bedford, Indiana, powertrain casting plant.
Since 2009, when GM exited government-backed bankruptcy, the automaker has announced more than $10 billion of investments in U.S. facilities through the end of 2013. GM last year announced plans to invest $16 billion at U.S. factories and facilities and $11 billion in China through 2016.
