Today’s announcement that General Motors plans to spend $300 million in Michigan is good news not only for GM employees, but also for auto parts suppliers.
GM had previously announced the automaker's plans to invest $240 million in its Warren transmission plant. The plant will make the electric drive unit for the next-generation Chevy Volt.
Magna International makes parts for various GM vehicles, including the Chevy Volt. The company opened a new $75 million manufacturing plant near Lansing today. The plant will employ around 300 people.
CEO Donald Walker partially credits GM’s investments for his Canadian company’s expansion in Michigan.
“The reason why we’re in Michigan is quite frankly because General Motors is doing well,” says Walker. “A lot of different things came together, but at the end of the day it’s because General Motors is being successful and has a plant here.”
Walker says a decade ago, it would have been “unlikely” that his company would have built new plants in Michigan. But Magna has created 5,000 jobs in Michigan as GM and the rest of the auto industry have rebounded in the last five years.
