(Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) plans to invest $163 million at plants in Michigan and Ohio to add engine production for the Chevrolet Cruze, the Chevy Volt and an unnamed new small car, the automaker said on Wednesday.

GM said the planned investments would protect 184 jobs at the facilities, which include an engine plant in Flint, Michigan; a components plant in Bay City, Michigan; and a casting plant in Defiance, Ohio.

The automaker plans increased production of a 1.4 liter engine used in the Cruze compact car and a variation on that engine used in the Volt plug-in hybrid at the Flint plant.

GM expects to begin producing of 400 engines per day at the Flint plant in early 2011, increasing that to about 800 per day by late 2011. The added investment allows GM to increase production capacity to 1,200 engines per day by late 2012.

The automaker assembles the Cruze in Lordstown, Ohio, and the Volt at its plant that straddles Hamtramck, Michigan, and Detroit. It plans to build the new small car at a plant in Orion, Michigan, north of Detroit.

GM also builds a 3.6 liter V6 high feature engine at the Flint plant that is used in its Chevy Traverse, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia crossovers and Cadillac CTS and STS cars. Those vehicles are assembled at plants in Lansing, Michigan.

Last year, GM said it expected to have the Flint plant retooled to produce engines for the Cruze and the Volt by late 2010.

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