General Motors will be investing in the Flint Truck Assembly Plant to increase production.
With the upcoming investment of $150 million in the Flint Truck Assembly Plant, this will be the second major expansion of General Motors’s full-size pickup truck production capacity this year. The plant will increase the production of the all-new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty pickups, which began shipping to dealers last week.
Previously, GM has invested more than $1.6 billion in the Flint Assembly since 2013, increasing the truck plant’s capacity of the all-new Chevrolet and GMC HD pickups by about 40,000 vehicles annually, with more crew cab models and diesels.
Due to the expansion, almost 1,000 new jobs were created this year, bringing the total employment at the plant up to more than 5,000. The investment will allow for an upgrade of plant conveyors and other tooling to increase production capacity, with the work expected to be completed in the first half of 2020.
“We have tremendous opportunities to grow our heavy-duty pickup business because we’ve invested in capability, performance, innovation, and capacity,” said Mark Reuss, GM President. “Our all-new Chevrolet and GMC HD pickups are the toughest, strongest, most capable heavy-duty pickups we’ve ever brought to market, and our Flint team is up to the challenge to build world-class quality products to drive the growth.”
The combined sales of the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GM Sierra 1500 crew cab pickups were up 20% in the first quarter of 2019, with another significant increase predicted for the second quarter. Double cab and regular cab models are now available as well.
Dealers will build their inventories of the new heavy-duty pickups through the remainder of 2019.
Some other investments by GM include those announced in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Dayton, Ohio; Parma, Ohio, Romulus, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio, Spring Hill, Tennessee; and Lansing, Michigan.
Since 2009, GM has invested more than $23 billion in its U.S. manufacturing base – more than one-quarter of every dollar spent by any automaker.