GM just boosted its U.S. manufacturing spend to $6 billion in one year—and it may be returning to the idea that made it great

General Motors has now committed more than $6 billion to U.S. manufacturing in just 12 months — and the latest installment, an $830 million infusion across three propulsion plants announced Wednesday, is starting to look less like a spending spree and more like a strategic homecoming.

The new funding includes flows to Romulus Propulsion Systems in Michigan ($300 million, its second such investment after an identical commitment last year) to expand 10-speed transmission capacity for full-size trucks and SUVs; Toledo Propulsion Systems in Ohio ($40 million, also a second tranche) for light-duty truck transmissions; and Saginaw Metal Casting ($150 million) to boost production of heads for sixth-generation V-8 engines destined for next-generation pickups and Corvettes.

In an interview with Fortune, GM’s manufacturing chief Mike Trevorrow said the company made sure the workers heard about it first. UAW representatives joined plant managers on the floor at all three facilities to deliver the news in person. “We were fortunate enough to have them at a couple of our plants today to help with the rollout to the employees,” Trevorrow, GM’s senior vice president of Global Manufacturing, said. “It’s fun.”

A century-old idea, quietly revived

The shape of GM’s current manufacturing portfolio — full-size trucks, sixth-generation V-8s, 10-speed transmissions, a broad EV lineup maintained even as battery capacity was trimmed — bears a striking resemblance to a strategy that is literally over 100 years old.

Alfred P. Sloan built GM into the world’s largest automaker in the 1920s through the........

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