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GM to Invest More Than $51M at Bedford Aluminum Casting Facility General Motors announced Dec. 7 plans to invest more than $51 million to install state-of-the-art equipment at its Bedford, IN, aluminum die casting foundry to support the manufacture of drive unit castings for the upcoming Chevrolet Silverado EV and other current casting applications. The all-electric Silverado, powered by the Ultium Platform, will debut Jan. 5 at CES, the world’s most influential technology event. The renovation work will begin immediately at the facility. Earlier this year, the 1 million square foot
site began producing electric drive unit castings for the 2022 GMC HUMMER EV Pickup and 2024 GMC HUMMER EV SUV. Production of the 2022 GMC HUMMER EV Pickup will begin in December at GM’s Factory ZERO assembly plant, located in Detroit and Hamtramck, MI. “Our Bedford operation is one of the leading aluminum die casting facilities in the world and this investment is a testament of our confidence in the employees at Bedford,” said Phil Kienle, GM vice president See GM to Invest, Page 12
Kentucky Tornado Damages Corvette Factory, Museum Motorsports Park by Steven Symes, Motorious
The National Corvette Museum has announced it will be open Dec. 13; however, the NCM Motorsports Park will remained closed until further notice. We will bring further updates as more information becomes available. Original Story Unless you’ve been under a rock since Dec. 11, you know tornados have ripped through numerous communities in the U.S., including Bowling Green, KY, where an EF-3 tornado
touched down. Unfortunately, both GM’s Bowling Green Assembly Plant and the Na-
Photos shared on Facebook of the NCM Motorsports Park include these two C8 Corvettes buried under debris after a tornado caused widespread damage in Bowling Green, KY. Credit: Michael Trevor/Facebook See Kentucky Tornado, Page 10
Vol. 11 / Issue 4 / January 2022
Despite Taxpayer-Funded Stimulus, Illinois’ Economy Slow to Recover by Greg Bishop, The Center Square
Illinois’ economy is among the worst performers during the pandemic and an economist says it’s clear as to why. Despite 40% higher taxpayer-funded stimulus last year than the year before, Illinois’ GDP decline was 13th worst in the country and it is expected to grow slower than the rest of the country. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis regional quarterly report on gross domestic product and personal income shows for all of
The Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, IL. Credit: John Spataro/Watchdog.org
2020, Illinois’ gross domestic product, or GDP, contracted by 5.1%. See Economy Slow to Recover, Page 10
Collision Repair Industry Thought Leaders Share Innovative Ideas During IDEAS Collide Showcase rattle the status quo,” added SCRS Chairman Bruce Halcro. “I think Thought leaders from across the the lineup of contributors this year collision repair industry had the op- was poised to do just that and I perportunity to share innovative ideas at sonally find this to be one of the the IDEAS Collide Showcase held most ambitious sessions that breaks during the 2021 SEMA Show. out of what we traditionally expect The event was first introduced from industry education.” at the 2018 show by the Society of Information about the SEMA Collision Repair SpecialGarage Detroit was shared by Ben Kaminsky, general ists (SCRS) as part of its manager. Repairer Driven Education Kaminsky said the goal (RDE) series. of SEMA Garage Detroit is This year, eight speakers were given 10 minutes to help SEMA members and each to talk about creative partners develop new prodways to help the industry Ben Kaminsky, gen- ucts, train and understand evolve. eral manager, SEMA what they need to succeed Garage Detroit “The ideas that we’re in their businesses. exploring really traverse a The 45,000-square foot lot of different business models and facility offers the capability to cona lot of different topics,” said Aaron duct emissions and horsepower testSchulenburg, executive director of ing. A large install center is being set SCRS. “Some of them will be about up for influencer videos and instruchow we approach the industry and tion manuals. some of them will be very specific One of the highlights of the solutions to specific challenges.” multi-million dollar project is the “We’ve always championed inclusion of an advanced driver asSee IDEAS Collide Showcase, Page 24 that the topics in this session should by Stacey Phillips
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