GM has announced a scheduled pause in production at its Fort Wayne, Indiana assembly plant to gear up for the next generation of its Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra light-duty pickups. The strategic downtime is earmarked for the weeks of April 29th, June 24th, and July 8th, with plans to retrofit the facility with the necessary updates for manufacturing the upcoming models. According to GM spokesperson Kevin Kelly, the production downtime will not affect the automaker’s ability to satisfy customer demand for the popular truck models.
Per a report from The Detroit News, the downtime at the GM Fort Wayne facility will affect other facilities as well, including Grand Rapids Operations, Marion Metal Center, Lansing Grand River Stamping, and Parma Metal Center, all of which provide support to the Fort Wayne plant. The specifics on the planned downtime at these facilities are currently unclear, but will be communicated to each plant when available.
The Fort Wayne plant, which covers 4.6 million square feet across 716 acres, first opened in 1986, and is staffed by members of UAW Local 2209. The facility is responsible for assembling more than 1,300 trucks daily, with employees assisted by more than 2,200 robots. The facility’s production lineup has historically included the Chevy Silverado 1500 and the GMC Sierra 1500, including K2-based models up until 2018.
The upcoming generation of trucks, slated for a 2026 debut and designated for the 2027 model year, is expected to usher in a long list of changes and updates. While the exact nature of these updates remains under wraps, GM Authority readers voiced their opinion on the topic last year, shedding light on what fans of the popular pickups were hoping to see from the upcoming fifth generation. To note, the current fourth-gen Chevy Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 were introduced for the 2019 model year and refreshed for 2022.5 model year.
Critically, the next-gen pickups may introduce new plug-in hybrid powertrains. As GM Authority covered previously, GM is allegedly working on new PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) variants of its popular light-duty pickups, a major pivot that coincides with a decision to reintroduce new GM PHEV models to the North American market. Previously, GM was expected to leapfrog hybrid technology entirely in a bid to transition directly to EVs, but changed tack following a slowdown in EV demand and rising costs.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more Chevy Silverado news, GMC Sierra news, Chevy news, GMC news, GM production news, GM business news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
Wow. How many times will GM bring out the new models trucks or refreshed trucks while the CT4/CT5 and Malibu just rot on the vine. Sad.
I can’t wait till fuel prices go even higher and stay there. It’s the only thing that will stop this addiction to huge gas hogs.
Trucks make them literally billions every year and at there single most important product. Add in they share platforms and powertrains with the full-size SUVs those vehicles alone make more than entire brands Mazda or Subaru.
So you feel that GM should be ok with losing hundreds of thousands of sales to other brands that actually care about selling cars? Just so they can make “billions”?
That’s a really bad business case. GM is big enough and can walk and chew gum at the same time. Don’t tell me they can’t keep their gas hogs fresh and ready for goober to buy while also offering sedans that are competitive.
BTW, I could care less about those Japanese brands. Why bring them up?
Toyota hardly EVER profits off the Tundra or the Seqouia (which is actually outsold by the Patrol (Nissan)). So the point does not work completely.
I brought them (other brand.. why the negative connotation to ‘Japan’?) up to showcase the significant earning and ROI there is with trucks. It is significant both in dollars and justification to keep them updated and competitive.
Cars don’t sell, even when they threw money at Cadillac sedans. That is why they aren’t worth more frequent investment. It’s simple. It’s business. It’s logic. You disagreeing is an emotional response
I actually lol’d at “just so they can make billions”.
Sorry MikeRR: If you don’t think GM can keep the trucks competitive while also selling sedans and keeping them competitive, then GM shouldn’t be in business. It’s all about greed. If it was truly about the customer, then we wouldn’t be where we are today.
May $7.00 per gallon gas/fuel be here to stay across the nation soon.
Greed would mean they want sedan sales. But the entire industry has shown that sedans dont sell. lol are you void of the free market? Again, your demands/disdain are emotional, not logical.
The big 3 continue to get their buts kicked by the jap cars for the last 50 years and havent yet figured out why. The quality is low and the prices are the highest ever.
Yet Tundra and Seqouia sales are so low. Explain why? The new Tundra is not good, to say the very least.
Because nobody wants a 1/2 ton pickup that gets 12 -14 mpg.
Some of us need it for our livelihoods.
Exactly. And look at the price of trucks and proper SUV’s now. You can thank goober and his wife for driving the prices up.
For every one person who needs a truck for their livelihood, I’ll show you 5 others who never use them for anything but personal use and maybe use the box to toss their beer cans in.
I believe your dissatisfaction should be directed at GM & not “goober and his wife”. GM use to have the WT packaged for the individual who makes his living with the truck & those are hard to find. The packaging is always loaded with options that the working man doesn’t want or need. I am one who uses pickups for personal use, it is used to bring home firewood for woodstove, pellets for pellet stove, bring deer home from hunt. I use it to haul lawn tractors, quads & all of the other stuff I haul back & forth to my camp in the Adirondacks & to tow trailer when stuff doesn’t fit in truck. I will agree that the pricing is out of control for the individuals who depend on them for their livelihoods & for bubba and his wife also, but these are personal choices that are allowed. No beer cans in bed, that is considered open container. Have a nice day.
sierra: You are correct and I’d consider you one who then uses the truck for it’s intended purpose and livelihood. So you would fall into the one out of 6 that I referred to. And yes, my dissatisfaction is with GM. Goob and his wife don’t really have many choices anymore now do they?
Maybe I’m just a little hot at this time due to the a-hole in the huge Chevy truck yesterday who, for absolutely zero reason other than he must not have liked that I drive an EV, literally attempted to run me into the divider wall on the freeway. My reaction was too fast for him and so he pulled in front of me in the carpool lane and then slowed down. I had no clue what was going on or if they were having a medical problem, so I just pulled back and followed safely from behind. When he realized I wasn’t going to take his bait, he finally pulled into the next lane to the right and slowed down. So as I went to continue on, he flipped me the finger. I’m not alone here and many EV drivers have had similar experiences with big trucks. Why? Does my driving an EV offend him? Does it hurt him? Why do these people feel the need to use the size of their vehicles to (try and) intimidate other drivers? So yes, I have an issue with all these idiots plowing down the road and acting as if they own it. And yes, the majority are in trucks and huge SUV’s.
I truly hope the national gas prices jump to $7.00 per gallon and never come down.
You better hope gas prices DON’T hit $7.00 a gallon. If that were to occur you’d be paying a $hit more for everything.
Don’t take it personal, the country is full of unsafe disrespectful a-hole drivers. I experience them on the road regardless of if I am on the motorcycle or truck. I am only 73 but I can remember paying 27 cents a gal for gas back in high school. So don’t be wishing 7.00 a gal ,I don’t begrudge your ev ownership, it’s your choice. This whole debacle reminds me of what Henry Ford said, “you can have any color you want, as long as it is black” & that is the attitude of the inept present administration. Have another nice day.
Why? So you’ll feel better about driving your EV? And not get punked by trucks.? Grow some balls be a man
I currently drive a 2021 Sierra 3.0 diesel and have never got less than 28mpg on a tankful. Usually get 30+ combined. Hopefully they will make a hybrid diesel in the future.
I agree in part! I am a big fan of the 6.2 V8 and always specify that engine in my pickups and SUVs. I went to college, paid off my loans, amassed several million by working hard and without an inheritance. My favorite part about high gas prices is that I can afford it and others can’t. Keeping the less fortunate off the highways really reduces congestion and makes my drive more pleasant. I would gladly pay an additional fifty cent a gallon fuel tax to make public transit free for those who whine about gas prices and fuel efficiency.
lol originally to be a 2025, then 2026, and now apparently 2027. I guess that’ll happen when you have to pivot haphazardly back to hybrid midway through development. Somewhere engineers are bashing their heads on walls for telling GM brass this years ago
soooo.. will these have cracking roofs, falling tailgates, wrong pinions and self draining batteries.. and included spyware collecting all your data. asking for all of yall
still need a new truck. still not buying one. its amazing what a suburban with the irs will tow when you have to
The roofs had a recall, and there are fixes for the other issues.
It was all of 3000 trucks with the roof issue. Out of how many hundreds of thousands they build a year.
I agree there with you 100%.
“According to GM spokesperson Kevin Kelly, the production downtime will not affect the automaker’s ability to satisfy customer demand for the popular truck models.”
Right! Tell me why I should believe that statement?
This is just getting stupid,hell they can’t build what you order now plus having to wait 3 more years for new style,how many times can you shoot yourself in the foot before it starts to hurt
Not a good idea
There is not a lot to get excited about here, as a life long GM pickup owner with over 150,000 miles on my 2015 Silverado I’ll probably look somewhere else for my next truck. Over the years, it’s been bad paint, interiors that fall apart, engines that fail, and now transmission issues. Why throw good money after bad? I like the hybrid idea because my daily driver is a 08 Prius with over 320,000 miles on it. All is do is oil changes and service maintenance. I can’t afford to drive my Silverado because it likes to “find its way to the shop”. The last time with was for an automatic transmission. $5000 later it runs, big it still has problems. It doesn’t matter what color lipstick you use on a pigs lips, it’s still a pig. Come on GM, get your act together.
I am sorry you had to go through this. Did you change the oil with the RIGHT TYPE and every 3000 miles, or did you disable the AFM and then had issues?
I changed the oil at the dealership when the before 6000 miles. And, before the change oil message came on. I did not do anything to the fuel management system either.
Well. Then the only other possibility might be your driving style.
The biggest reason for owing a truck is the size of the passenger compartment, and you can pick up a lot of “stuff” that you might have to pay to get delivered.
Try putting 50 bags of mulch in your Chevrolet Volt or 3 people when you have a baby seat or two strapped in the back and you just picked them up at the airport with 3 bags of luggage. Truck work for most lifestyles, and they are very comfortable.
Do all you idiots that want electric vehicles the America does not have the energy grid to support you’re nothing but a bunch of dumb ass Democrats. Keep on wanting your electric vehicles that way when the government wants to they can shut them off at any f****** time they want to
Who’s making the steering knuckle?
Mr. Knucklehead is.
Do all you idiots that want electric vehicles the America does not have the energy grid to support you’re nothing but a bunch of dumb ass Democrats. Keep on wanting your electric vehicles that way when the government wants to they can shut them off at any f****** time they want to
I bet every dollar I have the V8 engines will be discontinued, Rams already done it and Toyota with the stupid v6’s
I loved my 5.3l on my 2021