GM pledges $833M investment in Canada through 2016 - 21 News Now, More Local News for Youngstown, Ohio -

DETROIT (AP) - General Motors says it plans to invest $833 million in Canada for research and development.

The company says it began spending the money in 2009 and will invest at least $150 million per year through 2016. Much of the money will go to a research center in Oshawa, Ontario.

The Oshawa center's employment has more than doubled since 2009 to 275 workers, GM spokeswoman Adria MacKenzie said in an e-mail. The company expects employment to remain about the same in the future. GM says it will expand research in lightweight materials, software and communications at the Oshawa center.

The announcement comes a month after GM decided to close a factory in Oshawa next year, cutting 2,000 jobs. The Canadian and Ontario governments still have a $7.7 billion stake in GM as a result of government bailouts of the auto industry.

GM's announcement comes the same day that Toyota Motor Corp. said it would invest more than $100 million and hire 400 people to increase production of Lexus luxury vehicles at a plant in Cambridge, Ontario.

With the investment, the plant will increase its capacity to build vehicles by 30,000 a year, to 104,000, Toyota said.

The Cambridge factory now makes the Toyota Corolla and Matrix compacts, the RAV4 small crossover vehicle and the Lexus RX models.

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