NASHVILLE (AP) — The mayors of Spring Hill, Columbia and Maury County are in Detroit seeking to persuade General Motors officials to boost production at the automaker's plant in Tennessee.

Spring Hill Mayor Mike Dinwiddie said in an email that the group was scheduled to meet GM officials Thursday afternoon to make the case for the former Saturn plant.

Dinwiddie said the Spring Hill plant should be a factor in ongoing contract negations between GM and the United Auto Workers.

More than 2,000 workers were idled when the plant south of Nashville stopped making the Chevrolet Traverse in 2009. But the facility has continued to make engines, and GM last year announced a nearly $500 million investment to build the next generation of the company's Ecotec engine at the plant.