- GM increases Flint truck output to meet steady demand for heavy-duty pickups.
- Production rises to about 1,100 vehicles daily with a new six-day schedule.
- Analysts expect up to 50,000 more trucks annually from added capacity.
Production of GM’s heavy-duty pickup trucks is ramping up in Flint, Michigan, even as industry expectations point to softer new car sales in the first quarter, driven by geopolitical tensions and rising fuel prices.
At Flint Assembly, operations will move from three five-day shifts to a six-day work schedule, boosting output of the Chevrolet Silverado 2500 and Chevrolet Silverado 3500, alongside the GMC Sierra 2500 and GMC Sierra 3500. The plant employs roughly 4,200 hourly workers and is expected to turn out about 1,100 trucks per day once the new schedule is in place.
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Barclays analysts estimate that adding the extra shift capacity could lift annual production from around 250,000 units by an additional 40,000 to 50,000 trucks.
According to GM, the change is being made to align with stronger demand for the Silverado and Sierra models. It’s possible that GM wants to make the most of this demand, perhaps anticipating that if fuel prices remain as high as they are now, or even higher, shoppers may shift to smaller, more efficient models.
American Boost, But Canadian Cuts
“If you look at the historical models, usually it takes four to six months of sustained, high oil prices before people start to think, ‘Well, maybe I should go for less mileage or maybe I should buy down,” GM finance boss Paul Jacobson told The Wall Street Journal.
GM notes that boosting production of these heavy-duty trucks in Michigan won’t affect how many are made at its Ontario plant in Canada. However, the ramp-up at the Flint Assembly site comes just a couple of months after the Canadian site lost a third production shift, largely due to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Importantly, that lost shift is not the one being added in Flint, it is instead being reassigned to GM’s plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
