General Motors plans to invest $71 million into two Ohio manufacturing facilities, including $39 million at its Toledo transmission plant and $32 million at its Defiance casting plant. Work will begin immediately at the two locations. The Toledo investment will be used to upgrade and enhance the production of GM’s eight-speed rear-wheel-drive transmission, and the Defiance investment will be used to prepare the facility for future engine casting components work. The investments will enable the company to retain 240 jobs.

GM has invested more than $3.3 billion in Ohio since 2009. Separately, GM and LG Chem formed a joint venture, Ultium Cells LLC, and together are investing more than $2.3 billion to build a new battery-cell manufacturing plant in Lordstown that will create more than 1,100 new jobs. Construction of the facility is underway.

In Toledo, about 1,700 team members manufacture and assemble GM’s six-speed, eight-speed and 10-speed rear-wheel-drive transmissions and nine-speed front-wheel-drive transmissions. About 580 employees manufacture cylinder block and cylinder head castings for inline-four, V-6 and V-8 engines in Defiance.