General Motors Co. is investing more than $2 billion in six U.S. plants, including a makeover of a former Saturn plant in Tennessee into its third factory to produce electric models.
The automaker said Tuesday that it will build the first fully electric Cadillac -- the Lyriq crossover SUV -- in Spring Hill, Tenn., south of Nashville. As part of the decision, GM will move the Acadia SUV in the future to a plant in Lansing, Mich.
The Lyriq is due in showrooms sometime late in 2022. Cadillac has not yet released the Lyriq's starting price, but it will cost, "less than $75,000," said Steve Carlisle, GM's president of North America.
The investments aren't expected to create additional jobs, but will help keep the ones at the Tennessee and Michigan factories. The move also accelerates GM's shift to battery-powered models.
"We're investing in U.S. manufacturing to ensure that GM can build the vehicles that customers love today as well as transition to an all-electric future," Gerald Johnson, GM's executive vice president of global manufacturing, said during an online announcement. "We want to put everyone in an electric vehicle."
GM shares rose 6.75% to an eight-month high of $35.60 Tuesday in New York.
It's part of a previously announced plan to produce 20 electric vehicles globally by 2023. The company has said its Ultium battery pack will provide at least 300 miles of range, which is competitive with Tesla Inc.'s plug-in cars and SUVs.
"GM's plans to convert idled or underutilized factories for electric-vehicle production underscore the automaker's flexibility to move from inactive to competitor on electrification once [electric vehicle] profitability improves enough to warrant a committed effort," said Kevin Tynan, senior autos analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
GM's plant in Lake Orion, Mich., assembles the Chevrolet Bolt and will make a larger version of the same vehicle starting next year. The automaker said last week that its factory straddling Detroit and the city of Hamtramck will make the electric GMC Hummer SUV.
GM also said that moving the Acadia to its plant near Lansing will cost $100 million.
Other parts of the plan include a $32 million investment at its Flint, Mich., assembly plant for production of heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups; and $17 million in changes at a factory in Romulus, Mich., to increase capacity for 10-speed truck transmissions, which are used in full-size pickups and other key products. GM will also make $3.5 million in upgrades at the Orion assembly plant.
Currently the 7.9 million-square-foot Spring Hill facility employs about 3,400 hourly workers who make the Cadillac XT5 and XT6 gas-powered SUVs as well as a GMC SUV. The complex, which is GM's biggest in North America, also makes four engines that go into GM trucks and SUVs.
The paint and body shops at Spring Hill will see major expansions, and the general assembly area will get new machinery, conveyors, controls and other equipment. Renovation of the plant will begin immediately, GM said in a statement.
GM laid off about 680 Spring Hill workers and ended the plant's third shift on July 31 because of the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. New staffing levels at the plant will be determined as they get closer to production, spokesman Matt Ybarra said on Tuesday.
Information for this article was contributed by David Welch of Bloomberg News; by staff members of The Associated Press; and by Jamie L. LaReau of the Detroit Free Press.