GM to build next-generation 4-cylinder Ecotec in Tennessee

2010 Ecotec 2.4L I-4 VVT (LE9)

A person close to the matter said yesterday that General Motors will build the next generation of its Ecotec four-cylinder engine at its assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, as it continues some modicum of reinvestment in the former Saturn assembly site.

Currently, the plant produces four-cylinder engines for the Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Malibu, GMC Terrain, and Buick LaCrosse. Other Ecotecs are produced in Tonawanda, N.Y. The N.Y. site will also be producing the next generation of Ecotecs as well, as 480 laid-off workers have been called back for the project.

Having been opened in 1989, the Spring Hill facility built its last Saturn in 2007. There are currently 1,045 individuals employed by the plant. Production of the Ecotec is slated to begin in New York in 2012 and in early 2013 at the Tennessee plant.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Free Press