DETROIT — General Motors on Tuesday said it is investing $20 million at a suburban Detroit powertrain plant to increase production of 10-speed automatic transmissions.
The investment will be used to "purchase additional machining equipment that will enable the transmission capacity expansion" at Romulus Powertrain, according to GM.
The company, citing competitive factors, declined to provide exact timing of the investment, which was expected to be announced Tuesday at the plant by GM CEO Mary Barra.
"GM's investment in Romulus will enable the plant to continue playing an important role in our core business going forward," Barra said in a statement.
No jobs are expected to be created as a result of the investment, GM said. The facility employs roughly 1,350 people, including 1,300 hourly UAW members.
UAW Vice President Terry Dittes in a statement said the UAW "fully supports" the move. "We in the UAW look forward to more investments like this in the future so GM can build where they sell," he said.
GM has increasingly been adding the 10-speed automatic transmission to its lineup of rear-wheel-drive vehicles. The transmission debuted in the 2017 Camaro ZL1 and has since expanded to the automaker's full-size pickups and SUVs as well as the Cadillac CT6 and upcoming heavy-duty pickups.
Romulus Powertrain is the fifth U.S. plant Barra has visited in recent weeks in the wake of heavy political backlash over the company's plans to potentially end output at four U.S. plants and shutter Oshawa Assembly in Oshawa, Ontario, in 2019.
GM is moving to end output at the plants in response to a steady decline in U.S. car sales as Americans increasingly embrace SUVs, crossovers and pickups.
Barra on Monday, when announcing a $36 million investment at Lansing Delta Township in Michigan, reiterated the company's reasonings for the moves, including "rapid change" in the industry due to autonomous and electric vehicles and shifting customer preference to utility vehicles.
The $36 million investment for the mid-Michigan facility is for the midcycle refreshes of the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave. The investment, according to Barra, will start over the "next several months."
Barra also has recently visited Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee and Arlington Assembly in Texas, where she was joined by General Motors CFO Dhivya Suryadevara and Alicia Boler Davis, the company's head of global manufacturing. Barra has also visited GM's pickup plant in Fort Wayne, Ind.
