The manufacturing site for heavy-duty, extended cab Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks is currently being bounced around, with the most popular GM plants named being the Flint Truck Assembly plant and the Fort Wayne Assembly plant. The heavy-duty Silverado and Sierra trucks to be manufactured are reallocations from the shuttered Oshawa and scheduled-to-be-closed Pontiac Assembly plants, and according to GM spokeswoman Susan Garavaglia, there has been no final decision made yet.
The Flint Truck Assembly plant currently builds heavy-duty Silverado and Sierra trucks of the crew cab and single cab varieties. The plant also formerly produced the Chevy Kodiak and GMC Topkick medium-duty commercial trucks, but in accordance with the recent announcement that medium-duty truck operations would cease to exist by July 31, the Flint plant's second line will be shut down. The Flint Truck Assembly plant is the area's lone remaining assembly plant, and last year, put up production totals of 22,151 commercial trucks and 72,697 Silverado and Sierra trucks. While the shutdown of the medium-duty production line indicates available capacity at the Flint plant, UAW Local 598 Shop Chairman Dana Rouse has also acknowledged that the plant cannot take on the additional production in its current state. One area of concern is the limitations of Flint's paint shop.
The Fort Wayne Assembly plant houses productions lines for light-duty regular and extended cab Silverado and Sierra trucks. With the Allen County, Indiana, plant already suited for extended cab production, the holdup is currently centered on property tax concessions. An Allen County Council hearing is scheduled for tomorrow to determine the property tax abatements. If GM decides to proceed with the Fort Wayne location, they will be committed to invest $46 million to expand production. The General would like the county to suspend property taxes on $27 million-worth of investment for 10 years.
Source: Michigan Live