GM Boosts Production of Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra HD Trucks
Last month, GM said it was investing $24 million at its Fort Wayne assembly plant in Indiana to increase production of the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC 1500 pickups. Now, the automaker is anticipating high demand for its redesigned heavy-duty trucks, injecting $150 million into its Flint assembly plant in Michigan.
The Flint plant is shipping the first batch of redesigned Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty trucks to dealers this week. Shown earlier this year, these trucks promise 52 percent greater maximum towing capacity than previous versions for a total of 35,500 pounds. The models also boast powertrain upgrades including a new 10-speed Allison automatic transmission for the 6.6-liter diesel engine, as well as more advanced cabin technologies.
The automaker has invested more than $1.6 billion in the Flint plant since 2013. With this cash, GM has been able to increase capacity of its HD pickups by around 40,000 vehicles per year.
A thousand new jobs were created this year at the Flint plant. Now the plant employs more than 5,000 workers. By the first half of next year, GM will have modified the plant’s conveyors and upgraded tooling to support increased production capacity for the trucks.
It remains to be seen how GM’s heavy-duty trucks perform on the sales charts. GM experienced one major disappointment: Ram surpassed Chevrolet to become the second most popular full-size truck brand in the first quarter of the year. But if you add Sierra sales in with Silverado sales, GM still has a lead over Ram in the full-size pickup race.
Source: GM
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