The announcement has been made by Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre, during a press conference held at the Fairfax Assembly Center earlier this week. The development is included in a production facilities investment plan, which has been implemented by GM in the last nine months and has been scheduled to restore or create 7,500 jobs.
The investments of $136 million in Fairfax and $121 million in Hamtramck will include facilities, machinery & equipment and tools for the next generation Malibu model.
The Fairfax site currently assembles two of the carmaker’s best sellers, the Malibu and Buick LaCrosse. The models registered a 58 percent year to year sales increase in the first quarter of 2010, with U.S. dealers delivering over 49,000 Malibus and 14,000 LaCrosses in the first three months of the current year.
As a response to the market growth, GM added a third shift of around 1,050 jobs at Fairfax in February, a move that brought the plant’s head count to over 3,800 employees.
The next generation of the Malibu will mainly be built at Fairfax but will also come from Detroit Hamtramck, which currently builds the Buick Lucerne and the Cadillac DTS.
Detroit Hamtramck will also produce the Chevy Volt electric vehicle, which is scheduled to be introduced to the market during the course of the present year. On March 31, the first pre-production Volt rolled off the assembly line, marking an important milestone for the plant.
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