GM announced it would bring full-size SUV and light-duty pickup production to its Orion assembly plant as part of a major investment push.
Over the next two years, General Motors announced it would stake $4 billion into three U.S. production plants — two weeks after it announced an $888 million investment to build a next-gen small-block V8 for a new generation of full-size SUVs and trucks. Part of that significant outlay involves retooling its shuttered Orion Assembly plant, formerly home to Chevrolet Bolt production, for gas-powered full-size SUVs and light-duty pickup trucks in 2027.
“We believe the future of transportation will be driven by American innovation and manufacturing expertise,” said GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra in the company’s official statement this week. “Today’s announcement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to build vehicles in the U.S. and to support American jobs. We’re focused on giving customers choice and offering a broad range of vehicles they love.”
Currently, GM builds its full-size SUVs in Arlington, Texas, while half-ton truck production is split among plants in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Flint, Michigan and Silao, Mexico. That last one is a particular focus with this latest development, as at least in part, GM is reshoring American production to guard its most profitable vehicles against heavy automotive tariffs. Even before the company’s announcements within the past few weeks, Barra said in an early May interview that GM would boost truck production at the Fort Wayne plant by 50,000 trucks per year — or about 20% — to satisfy demand while limiting exposure to tariff-related price hikes.
In that interview with CNBC’s Phil LeBeau (as recounted by GM Authority), Barra said her company would bring back production to “offset” the impact and “build on what we already have”, leveraging existing facilities and shift production for new and existing vehicles.
General Motors was originally going to revamp Orion Assembly, located northwest of Detroit, to build electric vehicles. As demand levels off, though, it sees fit to build models like the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 as well as its large SUVs instead. The company will still build its EVs, but it plans to centralize electric truck production at its Factory Zero plant, while part of the $4 billion investment will go toward preparing its Fairfax Assembly plant near Kansas City to build the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt and an as-yet unnamed “next-gen affordable” EV, as well as the gas-powered Chevy Equinox. It will also build a new gas-powered Chevy Blazer SUV in Spring Hill, Tennessee in 2027 (after the last-gen model was built in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico).
