GM moving Chevrolet Impala to Detroit plant

General Motors said Wednesday that it will build the next-generation Chevrolet Impala at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, adding 2,500 jobs.

The current Impala is built at GM's plant in Oshawa, Ontario. The next version is expected to go into production in 2013 or 2014.

GM said it will add two shifts at Detroit-Hamtramck for the Impala and the previously announced plan to build the Chevy Malibu. The tooling and equipment for the Impala will require another $69 million in investments.

In April 2010, GM said it would invest $121 million in the plant to support Malibu production.

The Detroit-Hamtramck factory also makes the Chevrolet Volt. GM said last week that it plans to ramp up Volt production to 60,000 next year, from an earlier plan to produce 30,000.

"We're doing this because we're confident in consumer demand for the great vehicles we're going to be building here," GM North America President Mark Reuss told workers at the plant.

Wednesday's announcement is part of a GM plan, spelled out two weeks ago, to invest $2 billion in 17 plants in eight states. Among the plants getting additional investment: Bowling Green, Ky., home of the Chevrolet Corvette; and powertrain plants in Toledo, Ohio, as well as Flint and Bay City, Mich. About 4,000 jobs are being created or retained at those plants, GM has said.

"Given the competitive nature of the auto industry in the United States, the bar for success is placed very high," Joe Ashton, UAW vice president of the GM department, said in a statement. "The members of UAW Local 22 soar over the bar every day by demonstrating their flexibility, hard work, and their intense focus on the customer."

By Mike Colias and Philip Nussel- Automotive News