General Motors (GM) Outlays $71M for New Design Campus in California
General Motors GM recently announced an investment of more than $71 million for setting up a new three-building campus in Northeast Pasadena, CA. The campus will be used for operating the company’s Advanced Design and Technology Centre.
Last week, General Motors announced the purchase of the 150,000-square-foot three-building campus — The Sierra — located at Rosemead Boulevard and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue, for $49.5 million. The latest investment of $71 million has been done for modifications of these buildings to make them fit for their intended use. It also confirms that the automaker plans to relocate its existing West coast automotive design division from North Hollywood to this campus in Sothern California. This has been done to amplify the automaker’s capacity to support advanced technology teams, which work to advance the company’s goal of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion.
General Motors chose the Pasadena campus after an in-depth search process which examined a number of other locations. The new site’s size, location and turn-key nature of the existing buildings, along with close proximity to General Motors’ technology centers on the West Coast, and ability to create additional job opportunities for leading universities and design schools in the area, are some of the factors in favor of the location. Moreover, the location of the innovation campus will give the company access to dynamic candidates that will boost the auto biggie’s proven capabilities and allow its future portfolio of connected products and services to be groundbreaking and imaginative.
This investment also showcases General Motors’ commitment to have a physical presence in one of North America’s largest epicenter for design and state-of-the-art innovation.
Also, the new facility in Southern California will likely expand General Motors’ operations by twofold and enhance the company’s contribution to the development of advanced connected mobility as well as provide the latest tools, equipment, and workspace to foster collaboration and creativity.
The campus will be used for enhancing General Motors’ potential to pillar emerging business opportunities in areas of advanced technology, software integration and future mobility solutions such as flying cars and lunar rover vehicles. Further, the facility will provide the design team, cross-functional groups, prospective employees and external partners with the domain they need for continuously reimagining the future of connected mobility. In fact, the team there will pivot on developing concept and future mobility projects that fall beyond the parameters of the automaker’s existing production vehicle programs.
The current North Hollywood Design Centre will continue to be used for advanced design operations as the retrofit improvements of the new facility is likely to be completed through the second half of 2022. Also, the company’s design team and other cross-functional groups will shift from the current facility in North Hollywood in phases as parts of the new facility are completed.
Amid the heightening climate-change concerns, General Motors is committed to its goal of providing carbon-free transportation in the upcoming years and is boosting its electrification efforts to attain the target. The company has always been at the forefront of the automotive revolution and is focused on its vision of an all-electric future. Recently, the automaker vowed to invest $35 billion to EVs and autonomous vehicles by the end of 2025, which is a 75% surge from its initial $20-billion plan.
The latest investment forms part of General Motors’ broader global expansion plan. The Detroit automaker is also constructing a new Design West facility at its Global Technical Centre in Michigan and is also planning expansion of its Advanced Design Centre in Shanghai, China. Much of the design work that these facilities will be focused on beefing up the company’s plans for an all-electric vehicle future.
General Motors, peers of which include Ford F, Stellantis STLA and Tesla TSLA, currently flaunts a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Shares of General Motors have appreciated 116% in the past year, while the industry witnessed a rise of 80.1%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Ford Motor Company (F) : Free Stock Analysis Report
General Motors Company (GM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Stellantis N.V. (STLA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
