Hybrid Car Review

After receiving tax breaks from Michigan and the city of Flint, GM announces they will build their manufacturing plant in Flint. The plant will produce the global 4-cylinder engines and the Chevy Volt's range extending engine.

GM expects to spend $349 million to build the manufacturing plant. That includes the price to build a 552,000 square feet plant, machinery, equipment and special tooling. Another $21 million will go for vendor tooling. Construction on the plant will begin immediately and engine production is expected to begin in 2010.

According to the press release,

Two engines will be built at the new facility. A 1.4-liter turbo for the Chevrolet Cruze and 1.4-liter naturally aspirated engine for the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle (E-REV), will be new members of an engine family already deployed successfully around the world, primarily in Europe. The engines will play a key role in GM’s plan to double global production of small four-cylinder engines by 2011, with more than half of that increase coming from North America.

Tom Stephens, GM Executive Vice President of Global Powertrain and Global Quality spoke to the role the 1.4-liter turbo will play in the company’s line-up. “The new 1.4L turbo for the Chevrolet Cruze highlights GM’s global commitment to offering engines that provide outstanding fuel efficiency without compromising vehicle performance. The new 1.4L turbocharged engine has the power of a larger engine, but retains the efficiency of a small-displacement four-cylinder. And with this engine, we expect the Cruze to be a fuel economy leader in its segment when it’s introduced in early 2010 . ”

Within the new engine plant will be GM Powertrain’s most flexible and competitive engine assembly lines in the world, with approximately 300 highly flexible stations that will allow assembly of multiple 4-cylinder engine families without retooling. The plant will be a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified facility, the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. And the plant will be landfill free, meaning no waste from manufacturing operations will go to landfills, but will be recycled, reused or converted to energy, proving the plant will be as environmentally sound as the products it manufactures.