General Motors is investing $1 billion to produce new heavy-duty pickup trucks

DETROIT – General Motors Corp. said Monday it plans to invest more than $1 billion in two plants in Michigan to produce the next generation of heavy-duty trucks.

The investment includes $788 million to prepare the Flint Assembly Plant to build heavy-duty gas and diesel trucks. Another $233 million will be invested in the automaker’s Flint Metals Center to support vehicle production. Both plants are located in mid-Michigan.

Despite GM’s commitment to offering fully electric vehicles by 2035, the company continues to invest in traditional vehicles such as the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty pickup.

The notably profitable trucks are in high demand, and sales are needed to help fund the company’s investment in electric vehicles.

A GM spokesperson said construction work related to the investments is scheduled to begin during the fourth quarter. He declined to disclose details and timing of next-generation pickups.

In 2022, General Motors announced a 38% increase in heavy-duty pickup sales over the previous year, with nearly 288,000 trucks sold.

The investment announcement comes ahead of contract negotiations between Detroit automakers, including General Motors, and the United Auto Workers union this summer.

For investors, UAW negotiations are usually a short-term headwind every four years that drives up costs. But this year’s negotiations are expected to be among the most contentious and high-profile in recent memory, fueled by a years-long organized labor movement across the country, a pro-union president and an industry on the path to an all-electric transition.

“When business thrives as it has for the past decade — due to the hard work of AUW members — the company must continue to invest in its workforce,” Mike Booth, vice president of the UAW, which oversees the union’s General Motors unit, said. he said in a statement.

UAW leaders publicly laid out their most important bargaining issues last week, including a cost-of-living readjustment that was wiped out during the Great Recession; stronger job security; and the end of an incremental or tiered salary system with members receiving different wages and benefits.