Wentzville GM Plant Adding 1,600 Jobs, New Truck Line

GM celebrated the 100th anniversary of its Chevrolet brand by announcing a rebirth at it's .

The plant, which lost its second shift in 2009 and didn't have a product guarantee beyond 2012, will add a second shift on its van line and be the home of the Chevrolet Colorado mid-size pickup truck.

Officials from General Motors and the United Auto Workers announced an investment of $380 million in the Wentzville plant and the addition of 1,260 new jobs to build the Colorado. Those jobs will likely come online in 2013, once the expansion of facility is complete.

The second shift on the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size van lines, which will include over 400 additional workers, begins running Jan. 3, 2012.

The Wentzville plant currently employs about 1,400 people.

Mike Bullock, the chairman of UAW Local 2250, said the plant will again get up to three shifts of workers.

"GM as a corporation wanted to see every one of its plants fully utilized," Bullock said. "The Wentzville plant wasn't able to do that just producing vans."

Bullock said previously laid off GM workers were being brought back into to form the second shift.

"We'll have about 444 workers coming in," Bullock said. "Once we get the laid off workers back in, GM has a national program that will bring in interested workers laid off from GM's 12 other plants in the United States."

Charles Halker, Warrenton, has worked at the GM plant for 26 years. "This is great for our community and great for the future of our kids," he said.

Cathy Clegg, GM's vice president of Manufacturing and Labor, made the announcement and introduced the Colorado truck. She was joined by other GM officials, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann and Mayor Paul Lambi.

The company previously requested incentives to build a half-million square foot addition to its existing 3.7 million plant. Construction is expected to begin in 2012.

"Construction should run through 2012-13 and the first trucks will be the 2014 model year Colorados," said Larry Tucker, Wentzville's Business Development Manager. "That's a great timeline for something like this."

The city of Wentzville in September for the plant, which allow GM to abate some of the costs of the expansion.

Dr. Terry Adams, superintendent of the , attended Thursday's press conference.

"A school is only as strong as its community and something like this only strengthens our community," Adams said "This is a big step for jobs and our economy. We're proud of the work that went into making this happen."