GM to spend more than $500M at Flint engine plant

General Motors says it will spend more than $900 million to update four factories, with the bulk going to an engine plant in Flint, Michigan, to build the next-generation V8 for big pickup trucks and SUVs. The company said Friday factories in Rochester, New York; Defiance, Ohio; and Bay City, Michigan, also will see investments to make V8 engine components as well as parts for future electric vehicles.

$579 million will go to Flint Engine Operations for equipment to build the sixth-generation small-block V8 that will go into the next round of big pickup trucks and SUVs. The plant now employs about 700 people who also will keep making their current product, a diesel engine used in light trucks.