GM: Flint expected to build Volt's engine
at $326-million facility
By Joe Lawlor | The Flint Journal
July 28, 2008
FLINT, Michigan -- General Motors intends to make Flint the manufacturing home of the engine for the much-touted, battery-powered Chevy Volt, according to paperwork filed with the city.
The engine for the Volt will be built at the same engine plant announced by GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner in June where the four-cylinder engine for the next-generation Cobalt (called the Cruze) will be built.
Wagoner previously told The Flint Journal that the engine work might come to Flint, but the documents filed with the city about the new plant cement the idea.
The engine built there "will be used in the proposed battery operated Chevy Volt and other passenger vehicles," according to an application asking the city to designate the proposed plant location a brownfield redevelopment site, which would cut GM's tax bill.
The backbone of GM's manufacturing presence in Genesee County has long been gas guzzlers such as big trucks and powerful engines and many celebrated the addition of a more fuel efficient addition to the area's manufacturing base.
"It strengthens Flint's competitive position long term," said Flint City Councilman Ehren Gonzales, who sits on the city's brownfield redevelopment board.
GM also offered new details about GM's coming engine plant.
- The plant will be 530,000 square foot, making it the seventh-largest of GM's 10 facilities in Genesee County.
- It will be located on Van Slyke Road adjacent to Flint Engine South and Flint Truck Assembly. Mayor Don Williamson previously pinpointed the location, but GM had not confirmed it.
- The new engine plant constitutes a $326 million investment.
- Bringing the plant here, means Genesee County will retain 300 jobs.
- Production is set to begin in 2010.
Construction of the plant will bring $6.4 million in tax revenue to the city, Gonzales said. The brownfield designation does not effect local taxes, but it does cut some state taxes.
"I think this is fantastic," said Suzanne Kayser, director of Flint's economic development. "It's a new concept, it's new technology."
Since its introduction as a concept car, the Volt has created a buzz for GM, which has more than 200 engineers and 50 designers working on the car even as it makes drastic cuts in other areas.
The vehicle is designed to use a common 110-volt household plug to allow a driver traveling less than 40 miles a day to use zero gasoline and produce zero emissions.
For longer trips, the add-on engine -- which it appears will be built in Flint -- would allow the car to be driven several hundred miles by supplying electricity to recharge the car's battery.
Wagoner has said preliminary plans are to produce the Volt at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center -- about 60 miles away.
City Council at its meeting tonight is expected to approve a public hearing Aug. 25 on the proposed brownfield designation.
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