General Motors recently announced that it is increasing production for its Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks in order to meet growing demand.
The uptick in production is set to take place at GM’s Fort Wayne Assembly plant in Roanoke, Indiana. General Motors is currently sorting out the staffing needed to fulfill the new production capacity, with an additional 200 workers slated to be added to the Fort Wayne facility. It’s believed that the new workers will be transferred from other GM production facilities.
The new production capacity will add an additional 1,000 units per month of GM’s light-duty full-size pickups, starting September 1st.
General Motors recently reported its Q2 2020 earnings numbers, posting an $800 million loss on $16.8 billion of revenue – better than expected, considering the heavy financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Critically, Chevy Silverado sales and GMC Sierra sales showed strength, leading to year-over-year U.S. market share growth despite tight inventory.
| Model | Q2 2020 / Q2 2019 | Q2 2020 | Q2 2019 | YTD 2020 / YTD 2019 | YTD 2020 | YTD 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | -14.1% | 122,432 | 142,464 | +4% | 267,166 | 256,777 |
| Silverado LD | -18.6% | 89,465 | 109,930 | +4.1% | 202,390 | 194,426 |
| Silverado HD | -0.7% | 31,279 | 31,496 | +1.7% | 62,052 | 61,037 |
| Silverado MD | +62.6% | 1,688 | 1,038 | +107.3% | 2,724 | 1,314 |
| Model | Q2 2020 / Q2 2019 | Q2 2020 | Q2 2019 | YTD 2020 / YTD 2019 | YTD 2020 | YTD 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | -5.3% | 53,824 | 56,857 | +9.7% | 106,833 | 97,403 |
| Sierra LD | -9.5% | 38,825 | 42,911 | +6% | 78,666 | 74,215 |
| Sierra HD | +7.6% | 14,999 | 13,946 | +21.5% | 28,167 | 23,188 |
As GM Authority exclusively covered last week, the 2020 Chevy Silverado High Country trim level, specifically Silverado 1500 High Country 4WD Short Bed models equipped with the naturally aspirated 5.3L V8 L84 engine, has received a transmission downgrade. This configuration previously came equipped with the ten-speed automatic transmission, but will now come with the eight-speed automatic transmission, the latter of which has been the subject of widespread customer complaints and a class-action lawsuit. The transmission change affects new vehicle orders made this month, and will remain in effect through the end of the 2020 model year.
Meanwhile, 2020 Chevy Silverado High Country models equipped with the optional 6.2L V8 L87 engine and 3.0L I6 LM2 turbodiesel Duramax engine will continue to come equipped with the ten-speed automatic transmission.
The GM Fort Wayne Assembly plant also produces Chevy Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD models. As GM Authority exclusively reported earlier this week, the remaining 2020 GMC Sierra HD production will be exclusively Crew Cab models, with low availability of that particular configuration driving the restriction.
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Comments
So I placed an order for a 2020 Silverado 1500 LTZ with 6.2L on 6/12. No order acceptance. This week my dealer informed me Chevy cannot get to my order before the 2021’s will be on the line and I will have to order that. Apparently it will be available to configure and order in 2-3 weeks.
Kinda in the same boat. Wanted the 2020 LT Trailboss but can’t find 2021 Trailboss build info anywhere. Won’t order what I can’t build… Ugh.
How about some softer seats in these trucks. It feels like you are sitting on bricks in these trucks.
Normalizing the numbers from the charts, GM produces about 70,000 pickup trucks per month. They’re adding 200 employees to increase production by 1,000 units/month. It’s less than a 1.5% increase. That seems wholly irrelevant. Looking in the other direction and correlating the employee to volume ratio, that would suggest GM already has 14,000 employees at that plant…could that be possible?
My Silverado. Has been recalled so many times . I would not buy another.?
More fake news you cant get me to believe that these trucks are doing that good maybe the gmc but the Silverado ugh my be I would believe it if the interior was out classing the pos ram an they had new features maybe stupid 180 degree front seats lmaooooo pos Ford come on
Dropped my vehicle for service at my Chevy dealer today. Entering the lot I was like what the… did I enter the wrong drive? Holy…, where are the trucks? Gone. You want a new Chevy (GM) truck right now, good luck.