The V8 engine has a future at General Motors. The automaker is investing $854 million to prepare several factories to build the sixth generation of the venerable small block V8. In addition, the company is spending $64 million for castings and components to support future EVs. This amounts to a total of $918 Million.
GM is not providing details, timing, performance details, or features about the next-gen small block V8. However, the announcement says: "These investments will enable the company to strengthen its industry-leading full-size truck and SUV business and continue to support the company’s growing EV product portfolio."
Specifically, Flint Engine Operations in Michigan will receive $579 million to assemble the new V8 and do the machining for the block, crank, and head. The work on updating the plant will begin immediately. During the construction, the factory will continue to build the 3.0L turbodiesel powerplant.
Bay City Global Propulsion Systems in Michigan will receive $216 million for building the new V8's camshafts and connecting rods, in addition to machining on the block and head.
Rochester Operations in New York will get a total of $68 million. It will split that money between $56 million upgrades to make battery pack cooling lines and $12 million for building the new V8's intake manifolds and fuel rails.
Defiance Operations in Ohio will receive $55 million. Of that, $47 million will be for building the V8's block castings. It will also receive $8 million for a casting development cell for future EVs.
While this is undoubtedly a big investment into the new V8, GM is putting plenty of money into electric vehicle technology, too. In 2021, it announced a $35 billion investment through 2025 into electric vehicles and advanced driving assistance technology. This was a 75-percent increase over the automaker's previous plan.
In December 2022, GM said it expected EVs to make more than $50 billion a year in revenue by 2025. The company anticipated building more than a million of them a year across five assembly plants in North America.
