GM Launches Truck Production at Indiana Plant

General Motors Corp.’s new fullsize Chevrolet and GMC pickups began rolling off the line this week at the auto maker’s Fort Wayne, IN, assembly plant.

In the last year, GM says it invested about $210 million in tooling the Indiana plant for the ’07 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra. The plant employs 2,900 workers.

Fort Wayne will produce multiple variants of the new pickups, including 2- and 4-wheel-drive versions; regular and extended cabs; and long-, short- and short-short-box models.

GM expects annual output to reach 260,000 units at the Fort Wayne plant.

GM’s Oshawa, Ont., Canada, facility produced Job One of the new pickups, a crew cab Silverado, during the first week of October.

The auto maker’s Pontiac, MI, facility will produce both regular and extended cab renditions of both light- and heavy-duty models, beginning with the light-duty models at the end of November.

Early next year, its Silao, Mexico, plant will launch output of crew cabs and GM’s Flint, MI, facility will begin assembling heavy-duty models.