Flint Truck Assembly

Flint Truck Assembly is an automobile factory operated by General Motors in Flint, Michigan. It is the city's only main plant after the closure of Buick City. The Flint factory produces full-size GM pickup trucks for consumers as well as the commercial Heavy Duty versions. The factory has two lines, with #1 producing the Heavy Duty trucks and #2 producing medium-duty consumer versions.

The first factory location was in Flint, Michigan at the corner of Wilcox and Kearsley Street, now known as "Chevy Commons" at coordinates 43°00′31″N 83°42′36″W / 43.0086339°N 83.7099114°W / 43.0086339; -83.7099114 (Chevy Commons), along the Flint River, across the street from Kettering University.

The plant, at G 3100 Vanslyke Road, was built in 1947,[1] and was split between Fisher Body and Chevrolet. The Fisher operations were halted on June 24, 1970, with the entire factory turned over to Chevrolet. For much of the 1970s, Flint was home to the large Chevrolet K5 Blazer and Chevrolet Suburban, with pickup truck production moved to Pontiac Assembly Center in Pontiac, Michigan in May 1987.

On August 31, 1991, production of the large SUVs was moved to Janesville Assembly in Wisconsin. All laid-off workers returned to the plant on August 10, 1992 as production began. After the closure of Lordstown Van Assembly in 1993, Flint began to produce the former Lordstown Vans. The full-size van division was moved to Wentzville Assembly in Missouri in July, 1996, but a new product, the GMT480, began at Flint the previous year. The large commercial General Motors C/K trucks began production in 1997.

The factory's previous product, the GMT900-based trucks, began in February 2007. The factory also produced GM medium-duty trucks, which were phased out in 2009 after GM discontinued that division.[2] In 2010, GM produced the light duty crew cab pickups here.[3] In May 2013, GM began production on the successor to the GMT 900 platform series, the GMT K2XX, for its next generation of light duty crew cab trucks for the 2014 model year.

Chevrolet Assembly (pre-General Motors Assembly Division circa 1965)

Plants operated under Chevrolet Assembly management prior to General Motors Assembly Division management (most established pre-1945). Additional Chevrolet Assembly plants were located at Buffalo, New York and Oakland, California. Framingham, Massachusetts is unusual in that it changed from Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly management to Chevy management prior to becoming GMAD.

The terminology is confusing because most plants assembled more than just Chevrolet or B-O-P, and refers to the management structure only. The five brands originated vehicles from their respective "home" plants, where vehicles were assembled locally for their respective regions. Vehicles were also produced in "knock-down" kits and sent to the branch assembly locations. The "home" branches were Flint, Michigan for both Buick and Chevrolet; Oldsmobile at Lansing, Michigan; Pontiac at Pontiac, Michigan; and Cadillac at Detroit, Michigan.[4]

See also

List of GM factories

References

  1. ↑ http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/company_info/facilities/assembly/flint.html
  2. ↑ http://www.wnem.com/news/20234660/detail.html
  3. ↑ http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=resources/auto&id=7024361
  4. ↑ http://vcca.org/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/99892/Re_Fisher_Body_Company

External links

Coordinates: 42°59′6.39″N 83°43′0.74″W / 42.9851083°N 83.7168722°W / 42.9851083; -83.7168722

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