By Joseph White and Paul Lienert
DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co <GM.N> said on Tuesday it will invest $2 billion to convert its Spring Hill, Tennessee, factory to produce electric vehicles, starting with the new Cadillac Lyriq, alongside existing combustion-engine Cadillacs.
Spring Hill will be GM’s third U.S. electric vehicle factory, along with existing plants in Detroit and Orion Township, Michigan. The Tennessee plant was built in 1990 as the exclusive source for GM’s now-defunct Saturn brand.
The Cadillac Lyriq crossover is slated to go into production in Spring Hill in late 2022, according to AutoForecast Solutions (AFS), which tracks industry production plans.
AFS said it expects some electric vehicle production will be announced at a later date for a factory in Mexico.
Among additional investments, GM on Tuesday said it will spend $32 million at its truck plant in Flint, Michigan, to increase production of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty pickups.
GM will spend $100 million to shift production of the redesigned GMC Acadia crossover from Spring Hill to a plant near Lansing, Michigan.
Spring Hill will continue to build the gas-engine Cadillac XT5 and XT6 crossovers. The plant also will build other future electric vehicles in addition to the Lyriq.
The automaker’s plans for investing in U.S. factories comes with two weeks left in the U.S. presidential election campaign. President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden are competing for support from auto workers in Midwestern swing states.
GM Chief Executive Mary Barra has outlined plans to invest $20 billion by 2025 in new electric vehicles and battery technology.
The automaker is spending $2.2 billion to overhaul and retool its Detroit-Hamtramck factory to build a GMC Hummer EV electric pickup truck in late 2021, followed by an automated robotaxi and other electric vehicles.
GM builds its electric Chevrolet Bolt at a large assembly plant north of Detroit.
(Reporting By Joe White and Paul Lienert; Editing by Sam Holmes and Bernadette Baum)
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