General Motors, recently announced that is preparing to invest $483 million and create 483 new jobs at it’s Spring Hill, Tennesse Powertrain complex, which currently builds Ecotec four-cylinder engines. Providing that state and local officials are in agreement, the investment should provide a major shot in the arm for the General, the Spring Hill area and also the United Auto Workers’ union, since the new jobs will be filled by workers laid off, in accordance with the UAW/GM National Labor agreement.

According to Mark Reuss; GM North America President; “The engines made in Spring Hill will drive the success of GM to meet our customer demands for advanced powertrains which offer high fuel economy without sacrificing performance.” He went on to say that, “this new commitment to the Spring Hill team will help GM almost triple its North American production volume of four-cylinder engines with direct injection by 2012.”

Included in the announced spending package is $23 million that will be used to add 30 hourly jobs in response to increased production of current generation Ecotec engines, beginning in the first quarter of 2011. The rest of the money and jobs are planned for development and production of the next generation of Ecotec engines, which are said to be significantly more efficient than those currently available in vehicles such as the Chevy Equinox, GMC Terrain, Buick LaCrosse and Regal.

Nissan is preparing to debut three electric vehicles on August 2nd, one of which is expected to be a made-in-the-USA crossover. Nissan has already said that it plans to build an electric car at its Spring Hill, Tennessee, assembly plant in the near future.

According to the usually-reliable folks at Japan’s BestCar magazine, the crossover is to be capable of a range of 100 miles on a single charge and be slightly smaller than the current Rogue.

As for the design of the vehicle, it is likely to take inspiration from the Qazana concept (pictured above) that debuted at the Geneva Auto Show earlier this year.

The remaining two electric vehicles are expected to be small cars, with a strong possibility that one will be a mini-car that will compete with Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV, while the other would be a sub-compact along the lines of the Nissan Versa.

Nissan expects to sell as many as 5 million EVs by 2012.

[Source: BestCar via LeftLaneNews]