NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- General Motors is investing $131 million in the Bowling Green, Ky. factory that builds the Chevrolet Corvette as it prepares to roll out the next generation of the sports car in a couple of years.

In the process, the automaker will add about 250 jobs at the plant.

"This is a significant day for anyone who believes that America should build world-class, high-performance products," said Mark Reuss, GM North America president.

The plant currently employs about 400 hourly workers, GM said, who work four 10-hour days a week producing the cars. Corvettes had been made at Bowling Green since 1981. All versions of the car are assembled there including hardtops, convertibles and the high-performance Z06 and ZR1 versions.

While most cars are thoroughly redesigned about every five years to keep up with changing consumer tastes and competitors' improvements, high-cost niche products like the Corvette tend to go much longer between revisions. The sixth-generation Corvette was introduced in 2005.

GM has not yet revealed any official images or information about the seventh-generation Corvette. Volt goes 1,000 miles between fill-ups, says GM



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