Alexander Alusheff

Lansing State Journal

DETROIT - General Motors is moving production of the popular GMC Acadia to Spring Hill, Tennessee, but company and union officials say no jobs will be lost at the Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant that currently builds the vehicle.

Indeed, union and local officials say a $520 million investment is prepping the plant for new products, although GM has yet to announce what they will be.

"At this time, we don't perceive it as impacting us," said Bill Reed, president of UAW Local 602, which represents hourly workers at the plant. "There will be some future announcements coming later when we get more details on what's coming, but right now we perceive it as business as usual."

While GM's Spring Hill Plant will make the 2017 Acadia, Lansing will produce the 2016 Acadia and Acadia Denali through its life cycle, said Mike Trevorrow, Lansing's regional plant manager.

"Market demand for this vehicle has been very high," Trevorrow said. "We are running on three shifts and Saturdays. That's foreseeable for the next couple of quarters."

No jobs will be cut at the plant, Trevorrow said.

The redesigned 2017 Acadia will go on sale this spring, officials announced at the North American International Auto Show on Tuesday. The model had its strongest sales year ever in 2015 with 96,393 deliveries.

“GM has invested over $1 billion in their Lansing facilities over the last decade, retaining and creating thousands of jobs,” Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero said Tuesday morning in a statement. “I am grateful and confident that they will continue building world-class cars at Lansing Delta and LGR (the Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant) for years to come.”

Randy Hannan, Bernero’s executive assistant, said the mayor had been informed of the move “well in advance” of the announcement.

The automaker has invested $520 million for new tooling and equipment at the Lansing Delta Township plant, which employs 3,486 people. Officials have said the upgrades are for future products, but have not offered specifics.

The new tooling and equipment is expected to be installed over the next year or so. While the Lansing Delta Township plant is not getting a replacement vehicle now, it will likely get one after installation is complete, Trevorrow said.

“A half-a-billion-dollar investment normally doesn’t take place if you’re not looking to replace things,” he said.

Delta Township Supervisor Ken Fletcher said GM officials have made it clear that they have a long-term investment in the plant.

“It’s one of the most modern and technologically advanced plants in the GM system so it certainly wouldn’t make sense for them to stop producing vehicles there,” he said this morning.

General Motors announced earlier this month that it plans to add a a third shift at its Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant, adding more than 500 hourly and salaried jobs, to meet anticipated demand for the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro. That plant began making the Camaro last fall and also assembles the Cadillac ATS and CTS.

While the region waits to learn what new vehicle GM might build at the Lansing Delta Township plant, it is still waiting for information on the identity of a company that has interest in former GM sites being marketed by the RACER Trust.

The change at the Delta Township plant is unlikely to impact the potential redevelopment of three sites the automaker once occupied in Lansing and Lansing township said Bill Callen, spokesman for the RACER Trust.

“We’re continuing to work with our prospect,” Callen said Tuesday afternoon in an e-mail to the Lansing State Journal.

RACER is handling sale of two Lansing Township parcels, Plant 2 at 2801 W. Saginaw and Plant 3 at 2800 W. Saginaw; a third parcel, Plant 6, located with Lansing's city limits at 401 N. Verlinden, and a fourth parcel at 2901 S. Canal Road in Delta Township.

Lansing State Journal reporters Christopher Behnan and Eric Lacy contributed to this report. Contact Alexander Alusheff at (517)-388-5973 or aalusheff@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexalusheff.