Bailout Success Stories

[Pico and ME]

Chrysler to Invest $600 Million in Illinois Plant

Chrysler Group LLC will spend $600 million to upgrade production at its Illinois assembly plant, bringing the auto maker's total announced U.S. investment to $2.1 billion since its exit from bankruptcy court last year

A Town Saved by Stimulus

Chrysler, which had idled 3,500 hourly workers in Kokomo a year and a half ago, recently announced $350 million in new investments that will make the city the hub of North American manufacturing for its next-generation transmissions. All those people have been put back to work, and 700 others have been hired.

Auto parts manufacturer Delphi will use an $89 million stimulus grant to retain 100 manufacturing jobs and make 100 additional hires at a facility building parts for hybrid vehicles.

And a Colorado solar company plans to use $300 million in stimulus funds to hire as many as 900 workers at an old Daimler auto plant south of town that will make products to export to Europe.

Even the downtown looks better. The mayor leveraged $800,000 in stimulus funds to help with a revitalization project that has netted 11 new stores since the start of the year.

GM takes another step to repay bailout

General Motors is taking a big step toward repaying taxpayers for last year's $50 billion bailout, announcing it will repurchase $2.1 billion in preferred stock held by the Treasury Department.

The automaker has already repaid about $6.7 billion in loans.

The Auto Industry Is Cruising on Slow but Steady Demand

One example is GM's decision last week to begin building a compact Buick sedan, to be called the Verano, along with a yet-unnamed Chevrolet subcompact car at a dormant former Pontiac plant in Orion Township, Mich. The move means employment for more than 1,600 unionized autoworkers who might otherwise remain unemployed. The Orion plant is expected to employ workers on two shifts, building about 160,000 vehicles a year, after production gets underway.