27 January 2010 | Jake Kanter
General Motors (GM) is working closely with suppliers to help it become the first major US car manufacturer to produce electric engines.
GM will invest about $246 million to bring electric motor manufacturing in-house by 2013. It estimated this will create 200 jobs at its Baltimore facility and 1,700 roles for vendors and local communities across the US.
It hopes the move will lower costs and improve performance and quality of the engines by having control over design and materials.
“We are partnering with suppliers to create innovations faster than ever before. Our goal is simply to establish GM as a leader in automotive electric motors,” said Tom Stephens, vice-chairman, global product operations at GM.
It will continue to purchase and co-design electric engines with vendors.
GM also revealed yesterday that it had agreed to sell Saab to Dutch carmaker Spyker. The US firm planned to close Saab, but pending a quick transaction, the shutdown will be suspended. GM said the deal was excellent news for suppliers.
