General Motors Co. said its global investment spree will include
bulking up white-collar operations, with the auto maker committing
to spend $1 billion to refurbish an iconic technical center in
suburban Detroit that has long served as its engineering and design
hub.
The investment, expected to lead to 2,600 new white-collar jobs,
has been telegraphed by city officials in Warren, Mich. The
sprawling 59-year-old complex will start getting upgrades this
month, and work will continue through 2018.
The renovation, scheduled to be announced at a news conference
Thursday, will include new design studios, renovated
research-and-development facilities and a new IT building.
GM's Warren upgrade plans come amid a flurry of other investment
plans for global facilities and product programs.
Last month, GM said it would invest $5.4 billion in U.S.
factories over the next three years, coming as the auto maker is in
the midst of a EUR4 billion makeover in its European operation and
a $12 billion spree with partners in China. It plans to make $9
billion in capital expenditures in 2015, a 28% increase compared
with 2014.
It has also outlined billions of investment for overseas
markets, and said it would spend $12 billion sprucing up its
struggling Cadillac division.
The investments hit as GM has lost market share in key markets.
Share in China, the U.S., Brazil, Germany and the U.K. slipped in
the first quarter, compared with the same period a year
earlier.
GM's headquarters is located in a Detroit skyscraper complex on
the riverfront across from Canada, but the bulk of the company's
brainpower has long been located in Warren. Known as the GM Tech
Center, the sprawling campus is one of the icons of the Motor City,
where design and engineering superstars once crafted Corvettes,
Pontiacs, Buicks and Cadillacs that were the envy of the automotive
world.
Still heavily used, the facility is outdated and in need of
expansion, repair or upgrades, such as modern parking structures,
fresh paint or new carpeting.
In 2009, as GM was being bailed out by taxpayer funding and
preparing for a bankruptcy filing, executives considered moving
headquarters to Warren. Later in the year, the auto maker promised
to keep a presence in Detroit in exchange for state credits.
Write to John D. Stoll at john.stoll@wsj.com
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