According to people with knowledge of the process, the car and trucks manufacturer General Motors Co. is expected to officially announce its decision to invest 450 million dollars in two new plants based in Michigan. General Motors is to take this step in order to boost its research and production of the hybrid-electric vehicles Chevrolet Volt and Cadillac ELR.
About 1 400 new jobs are expected to be created by the company. The investment will be divided between the Detroit-Hamtramck car assembly plant of General Motors and its Brownstown Township factory, which is known for manufacturing batteries for the Volt. According to information provided by people with knowledge of these issues, companys decision is to be confirmed by its Vice President in North America – Mr. Gerald Johnson at an Automotive Press Association lunch on Tuesday.
In a e-mailed reply to an inquiry of Reuters, one of the companys spokesmen – Alan Adler, wrote: “GM has nothing to offer on this.”
This decision comes at a moment when two of the companys vehicle models – the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain – entered the top medium-sized sport-utility vehicles in a test that was conducted in order to simulate one of the most dangerous types of front-end collisions. Recently the company has had hard time, after been put under strict monitoring and evaluation following delayed withdrawal of 2.59 million small cars that had potentially defective ignition switches. The defect is pointed as a reason for at least 13 death cases in crashes where vehicles air bags failed to deploy.
The Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer of IIHS – Mr. David Zuby made a statement, which was cited by Bloomberg: “SUVs have gotten much safer over the past few generations, but some are better than others at providing comprehensive front-crash protection. When it comes to mid-size SUVs, General Motors is showing the way forward.”
According to Financial Times, shares of General Motors Co. fell 0.48% to 33.95 at 13:50 GMT on the NYSE, while companys one-year return rate was 22.98%. According to data published by CNN Money, the 17 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for General Motors Co. have a median target of 46.00, with a high estimate of 52.00 and a low estimate of 35.00. The median estimate represents a +35.49% increase from the last price of 33.95.
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