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GM Issues Stop Build For Certain 2024 Chevy Express, GMC Savana Configurations

GM has issued a “Stop Build” order for four configurations of the 2024 Chevy Express and 2024 GMC Savana commercial cargo vans, halting production of those variants immediately, GM Authority has learned from sources familiar with the matter.

The Stop Build order halts production of the Chevy Express and GMC Savana variants at the GM Wentzville plant in Missouri, though the 2024 Express Cutaway and 2024 Savana Cutaway variants are also produced by Navistar at a plant in Ohio.

Side view of the Chevy Express Cargo.

GM’s Stop Build order applies to the following configurations of the Express and Savana:

According to available information, there seems to be an issue with the second-row seating area of the named variants. The 5-passenger Crew Van Package (ZP6) for the Cargo version of both models is normally priced at an additional $1,965.

Rear three quarters view of the GMC Savana Passenger.

The Stop Build order is expected to be lifted by GM in February or March 2024. During the intervening time, dealers will be unable to order these vehicles until production of the affected configurations restarts.

However, dealers will be able to order limited numbers of the Express Cargo and Savana Cargo fitted with the naturally aspirated 6.6L V8 L8T gasoline engine developing 401 horsepower at 5,200 rpm and 464 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm.

Cockpit view of the Chevy Express Cargo.

The limited availability of Cargo configuration vans with the L8T engine is unusual in itself. GM dropped the L8T engine option from the Cargo variant of both the Chevy Express and the GMC Savana for the 2024 model year, though the powerplant continues to be offered on the Passenger and Cutaway configurations.

Both the Chevy Express and GMC Savana get significant pricing increases for the 2024 model year as well, with MSRPs hiked anywhere from $1,600 and $2,900. The higher end of this range, roughly $2,700 to $2,900, is most typical.

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Comments

  1. I’m guessing they don’t want them V8 engines sitting around till February or March…eh?

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  2. I can’t imagine anyone is buying these outdated vans when you can get updated vans from Ford and other companies. GM either has to upgrade these things or get out of the business.

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    1. Well Tom it’s all about what you are going to use it for. Ford Transit max towing is 4600 lbs. The Chevy is 10,000 lbs. My 25’ Komfort Travel Trailer weighs 4640 dry. Add two full 30 # propane tanks, two six volt golf cart batteries, 46 gallons of water. The Ford isn’t going to work for me. I’ve ordered three vehicles from Chevy in the past. A 1986 Camaro, 1989 Astro van and a 1995 Silverado 1500. All were delivered in about 12 weeks or less. Someone on this forum ordered a Chevy Express and has been waiting for over two years to get it. What the Heck is up with that?

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      1. Depends on the Transit. IIRC the 350 goes to ~7000 pounds. Can confirm 10k on the GMs.

        I’ve had customers give up on their Savana orders after 18 months. I am honestly skeptical that they even still make them at all, as I haven’t seen a new one in about 5 years.

        I sell commercial GMCs. It is very hard to talk almost anyone into even a hypothetical Savana (if we could get one for them), as they prefer the European-style vans with high ceilings and low floors. VERY few care about towing with them, at least in my corner of the globe. Regardless, even if they don’t want to update to a European-style van, can we at least get an infotainment system update and actual production?? Last major change was TWENTY YEARS AGO.

        GM seems fine with Ford, Ram, and Mercedes absolutely owning the commercial van market. They don’t even seem interested in playing.

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    2. I personally own a 2002 Savannah 3500 with 313,000 mi on it. I am just waiting for this one to die until I buy my next one the advantage of owning these Vans as they fit in most parking garages where the Fords and the dodgers do not. Any parking garage where my antenna does not touch I can fit I love this man and will gladly buy another one and we’ll be upset when they finally discontinue them.

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    3. Have you driven those other vans? Express is superior. They have had 25 years of refinement!

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      1. They have barely changed them, and they have a rougher ride (thus the higher towing capacity). No doubt superior to some, but to decreasingly many. More and more are recognizing the greater utility of the low floor and high ceiling vans. The numbers (most informative before shortages) don’t lie. GM is barely in the market.

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    4. Those European vans are so damn UGLY. I would never own one no matter the price. I recently received my 2023 6.6 extended express van after nearly a two year wait.

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      1. Most vans are ugly, and I would list the Savana/Express as the ugliest of them. That’s a very subjective matter. But you can’t beat the utility of vans for their intended purpose, and for most such purposes the European style is objectively more useful. Certainly not all, but certainly most (as the last decade of sales numbers prove).

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    5. Yes, it doesn’t have a high ceilings and if I was a plumber or contractor I’d probably get a Transit. I just got amy 2nd GMC van – this one with the 6.6L engine. Massive power, fun to drive, reliable plus pretty darn good gas mileage.

      Plus I’m towing and I wanted to get 4×4 put on it – which is not possible with the Transit or the Promaster. So it pushes every button except the high ceiling which I don’t need or want now that I have the trailer.

      I’m a happy camper!

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      1. Come on Chevy/ GMC , give us our vans . I own a 2005 express 2500 with nearly 200,000 with a 6.0 . Love that motor it pulls my 25 foot RV like it’s not there . Looking forward to the 6.6 . Been trying to buy a new Van for 3 years

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    6. These are the most reliable vans ever produced. A sure homerun by GM. And with towing capacities of 10,000 lbs. No other van comes close. They just need to build more and allow customers to order these again. The numbers are down because there are no dealer allocations available.

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  3. The highest towing capacity for a Ford Transit Passenger van is 4400 lbs.
    Cargo van 6900 lbs.

    https://www.ford.com/cmslibs/content/dam/brand_ford/en_us/brand/cpo/pdf/2023_Ford_Transit_Towing_Info_Dec16.pdf

    The Chevy express passenger towing is 9600 lbs.
    Cargo van 10,000 lbs.

    https://gmauthority.com/blog/2023/01/here-are-the-2023-chevy-express-towing-capacities/#google_vignette

    Again it just depends what you want to use it for. I would like a passenger van for my family to ride in while towing my trailer on a camping trip.

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  4. These vans are ending in 2025, they are still being produced but production is very slow. The robots and the production line it runs on is from the 80’s! So many break downs happen all the time.

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    1. I highly doubt that…

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      1. I build them and the Colorado and canyon I definitely know, the production line for the van is always down for maintenance

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        1. It’s not from the 1980’s though.

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          1. I never said the van was, I said the production line and robots are from the 80’s

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            1. There is no way GM is running 40 year old robots, sorry.

              Most of the robots are only in body shop & paint.

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              1. Dude I literally said I work at the plant I know exactly what I’m talking about, I work back in body shop 😐on these vans and trucks everyday. The robots that weld the vans are from the late 80’s Gm has replaced some robots with new ones but 80% are from the late 80’s. Truck shop has all the new robots with some still there from the last gen. Why would GM invest a ton on robots on a outdated van? Please use your head.

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                1. I’m guessing the comment I added an hour or so ago is either still waiting for moderation or failed because there were so many YouTube links. Suffice it to say all Gary has to do is go look at videos of the Wentzville plant to see that you’re telling the truth. In particular a local news station has recent footage of the van production lines. Other than much better lighting it looks an awful lot like another clip you can find on YouTube of the Van Nuys plant during the opening credits of the 1989 movie Best of the Best. So many resources available to independently verify your claims, and yet he wants to double down on his ignorant assumptions. 🙁

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                  1. Thank you for this, I have no reason to lie as I’m not gaining anything from it. These robots that weld the van are extremely slow and break down a lot, also there are a lot of sub assembly jobs that are still handsome welded. The body shop line also runs slower than truck shop that truck shop is forced to stop production so van side can catch up

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                    1. I believe it! Best I can tell the equipment was replaced in 1996, so not quite 1980s robots, but close enough compared with the rest of the industry. I can’t get ANY of these vans for my few customers who want them. Most prefer the European style. Frankly I would take either one, but GM won’t give me any allocation whatsoever.

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                    2. Yes some equipment was replaced last year also.

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                    3. Interesting! I actually believe it because the one problem I have with this van is the rear door is not shutting. They tweaked it once – and it shut for awhile – and is not shutting again.

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                    4. The Gmc is important to me because it is the same way the Ford Econoline was that was out from 1979 thru 1991 and I hope that I will be able to order one in the future before the van is discontinued.

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                2. I worked at the GM Janesville plant and can tell you there is no way those robots are from the 1980’s, lol!!!

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                  1. Well that settles it! Gary worked at a plant that was closed almost 15 years ago, so he definitely knows what is up with a different plant, 5+ hours and two states away! SMDH

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                    1. I Know GM well. My father also retired from GM. I have friends that transferred all over the USA when Janesville closed. I’m showing them your post and they are laughing at you!

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                  2. That’s a different plant and you should also know that GM exchanges and reuses old equipment from other plants, I wish I could send a picture to really show how wrong you really are and show all my co workers so they can laugh at you also, you probably never even worked at GM 🤣

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              2. I had paragraph breaks in there but apparently this system strips those out. Sorry it’s hard to read.

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  5. These vans are amazing with the 6.6l. My long WB 15 passenger Savana is way more quick, agile and fun to drive than my 2021 Yukon Denali and it runs on 87 octane. The euro type vans are only better if you absolutely need a higher roof. I’d love to try a SWB cargo 2500 with the 6.6! They are seriously fun to drive, versatile vehicles…real sleepers 🙂

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    1. I have a cargo with the 6.6L – its sweet! That engine is so powerful – it’s actually hard to get the RPMS up.

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  6. These vans , never need maintenance they just go,
    Pretty much the last of the old world vehicles
    The transits are completely garbage in my opinion always in the shops around town
    Dodge doesn’t even count
    The sprinter is definitely decent but hight maintenance

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  7. These vans although spartan and pealing paint are still the only vans that can tow 10k and even more without issue. They get the work done and are 20 k less expensive than a pick up truck. Yeah, styling isn’t all that exciting but they get the work done and there are oceans of parts

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  8. There is no “one size fits all” answer. The Express is much better for towing a heavy trailer than a Ford Transit. It has full-frame construction, much higher tow capacity and an available V8. The Transit is more comfortable for highway driving, but for heavy-duty use, the Express is better. If you do a “build and price” on Ford, Chevy and Mercedes websites, the Mercedes lists at $65,000, the Express costs about $48,000. and the Ford is about $50,000. Mercedes has far fewer dealerships than Chevy and Ford, and parts are very expensive.

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  9. i looked for the express and savannah vans. Dealers wanted a 6500 $marku with shelves. 48000 for a six cylinder truck. Used vans market 5000 above original msrp and there was not much evidence of oil changes. Decided i might like car camping more and not gm. Ordered a toyota 4runner off roader. Besides a realization dependability is most important to me.

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  10. The Gmc is important to me because it is the same way the Ford Econoline was that was out from 1979 thru 1991 and I hope that I will be able to order one in the future before the van is discontinued.

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  11. Has anyone heard any news about a resumption of production for the passenger vans? My dealer submitted my order the first week of September and it hasn’t changed status since. I asked GMC about production and they told me to ask the dealer. The dealer has no information at all. Discouraging.

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    1. GM is a F’n joke it took me 2 years to get my cargo van. They know what’s going on but always tell you to ask your dealer and of course GM doesn’t tell the dealer anything either.

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  12. I ordered a Savannah 3500 cargo van with 6.6 L engine and nothing fancy 2 1/2 years ago. It is for a business application and I can’t wait ant longer for it. The dealer offers no explanation and calling GM is a waste of time. I’ve bee buying these since 1979 and have quite a few of the now. I hate to change but they are leaving me no choice. Once I switch I’ll never buy another GM product.

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  13. I found a Chevy dealer in the midwest who has some new 2023 Express 3500 vans, 15 passenger, not cargo, equipped with the 4.3 V6 and 8 speed transmission. Dealer was easy to deal with. I bought one of them and drove it back to New England in February. The V6 is smooth and powerful.

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  14. When my van suddenly died I had to looking for one. I had to travel some ways but was able to find a 6.6The 6.6 is worth it if you are towing. Otherwise I’m sure the 4.3 is good. My 4.8 was great.

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  15. I was finally contacted by my dealer and my van has now been scheduled for production this coming week (3/25). We’ll see what happens.

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  16. I had heard a few weeks ago that the Express assembly line was reactivated. Seems to me if there is a big demand, Chevy should try to meet it.

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  17. If it’s not broke don’t fix it. Price of ford vans are insane.

    Reply

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