DETROIT -

Along with announcing plans for its former Saturn manufacturing hub, General Motors revealed Monday that vice chairman Stephen Girsky has been named chairman of the supervisory board for Adam Opel AG effective immediately.

The OEM said Girsky replaces Nick Reilly, who resigned from the board as a member and chairman.

Reilly recently announced that he has elected to retire from GM next March.

Girsky has served as a member of the Opel supervisory board since January 2010.

Supporting the company’s efforts in Europe are the appointments to the Opel supervisory board of GM chief financial officer Dan Ammann and GM International operations president Tim Lee.

“With Steve Girsky as chairman of the board and Karl Friedrich Stracke as president of GM Europe and CEO of Opel/Vauxhall, GM has two highly experienced leaders to take Opel to the next level,” stated GM chairman and chief executive officer Dan Akerson.

“They will build on the hard work that’s been done under Nick Reilly’s leadership to return our European operations to sustainable profitability,” Akerson continued.

Girsky commented about this expanded role by noting, “GM is committed to Opel and wants the brand to grow in a profitable way.

“To realize Opel’s full potential, we will continue to optimize its cost structure, improve margins and better leverage GM’s scale,” he added.

GM Unveils Plans for Former Saturn Manufacturing Hub

In other company news, GM announced on Monday it will invest $61 million to bring its idled Spring Hill assembly plant back to life in Spring Hill, Tenn., that for almost two decades produced Saturn models.

Plans are for the facility to become one of the world’s most-flexible manufacturing facilities capable of building any GM car or crossover based on customer demand or manufacturing need.

The OEM indicated the investment should create 594 hourly jobs and 91 salaried positions for the flexible operation scheduled to begin with the Chevrolet Equinox in the second half of next year.

Officials added the additional production will supplement Equinox production in Canada, the main assembly sites of the midsize crossover vehicle and its sibling the GMC Terrain.

Chevrolet highlighted the Equinox has been so popular — U.S. sales were up 18 percent in October — that GM has increased production three times since it went into production in 2009.

GM also announced on Monday a second investment of $183 million for future midsize vehicles to be built at Spring Hill, located about 40 miles south of Nashville.

Timing was not announced, but that investment is expected to create an additional 1,090 hourly and 106 salaried positions.

“Spring Hill has a history as one of GM’s most innovative and flexible plants,” stated Cathy Clegg, vice president of GM Labor Relations.

“We’re pleased that, working together with the UAW, we were able to build on that history and develop a plan to resume production at Spring Hill,” Clegg continued.

The potential for Spring Hill’s future role was discussed as a part of negotiations for a four-year national labor agreement ratified in October.

“Our No. 1 priority in auto negotiations this year was jobs,” stressed UAW president Bob King.

“We asked the company to bring jobs back to America, and that’s what this collective bargaining agreement represents,” King continued.

"Together, we are bringing 1,800 jobs to Tennessee, and a total of 6,400 new GM jobs, which translates to nearly 60,000 good, auto-related jobs in the United States,” he went on to say.

The automaker also pointed out Equinox production is only the start for Spring Hill Flex.

Operators will be capable of building a variety of products on a range of platforms — covering for plants being retooled for new products and also allowing real-time reaction to sales spikes in a given car or crossover.

Spring Hill powertrain and stamping operations, part of the integrated complex that was the home to the former Saturn brand from 1990 to 2007 and the Chevrolet Traverse large crossover into 2009, are still operating.

In fact, GM has invested $515 million in the engine operations in the last 14 months for current and next-generation Ecotec 4-cylinder engine production.

“The re-opening of Spring Hill is a testament to the value of collective bargaining,” said UAW vice president Joe Ashton, who directs the union’s GM department.

“Collective bargaining works for companies, for workers and for America. Collective bargaining is what brought good jobs to Tennessee,” Ashton declared. “It is what built our middle class. It is how workers and communities have a voice in corporate decision-making. Bargaining is what gives the working class a seat at the table.”