General Motors on Wednesday said it will add 2,500 jobs at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant to build the new Chevrolet Malibu mid-size sedan and the next-generation Impala large sedan alongside the Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera electric cars.

The carmaker will also invest $69 million in tooling and equipment to support the next-generation Impala, the statement said. This is on top of more than $120 million it is spending there on tooling to build the other new model, the next-gen Chevy Malibu, for which production begins in January.

Filling this plant with new work is very satisfying because GM is dedicated to helping rebuild this city, GM North America President Mark Reuss said at the plant Wednesday. We are confident in the flexibility of the plant, the excellence of our workers and the great cars assembled here.

Along with the investments GM also announced a four-week shutdown of the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which will exclusively build Volt and Ampera electric cars with extended-range capability for the rest of the year. Exports of Volt and Ampera to Canada, Europe and China are included in the total 16,000 electric vehicles being built for the full 2011 calendar year. The Volt/Ampera production goal for 2012 is up to 60,000 with three-quarters of those to be sold in the United States, the statement added.

Detroit-Hamtramck currently has 1,121 hourly and salaried employees.

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