The 450,000 square foot facility already includes facilities for extreme condition testing, and will gain an additional 138,000 square foot test wing by the end of 2014. Part of a $1.5bn investment in its North American facilities announced for this year, which will create 400 jobs in the area and reduce the carmaker’s floor space by 640,000 square feet and three leased facilities once completed.

Four external departments will move to Pontiac as part of the plans. The hydrogen fuel cell facility in Honoeye Falls, New York, will be consildated in mid-2013 as already announced. This will be followed by Castleton, Indiana, in mid-2014, which is responsible for heavy-duty transmission, power electronics, hybrid and battery electric drive unit development.

During the second half of 2014, the Advanced Technology Centre in Torrance, California will move into the facility in Pontiac, bringing electric motor and power electronics engineering under the same roof. The Advanced Engineering lab in Wixom, Michigan, responsible for electric motor engineering development transfers in mid-2015, followed by the Propulsions Systems Research lab in Warren, Michigan by the end of the year.

Sam Winegarden, GM vice president of Global Engine Engineering, said: ‘These moves will help our entire Powertrain team work more effectively across the organization to develop the powertrain technologies we need to build the world’s best vehicles for our customers around the world.’