The funny thing is that Flint, Michigan, has long been unofficially known as Buick City, thanks to its heritage of that brand’s presence in town since the days when Billy Durant first founded General Motors back in 1908. A lot has happened in the auto industry since then, including the mass consumption of pickup trucks, and GM announced this week that it’s putting a new infusion of $150 million into its Flint Assembly facility so its output of full-size Chevrolet and GMC pickups can increase. GM has invested heavily in upgrading Flint Assembly, to the tune of $1.6 billion since 2013, which has seen the plant’s pickup production grow by 40,000 units annually.
The latest expenditure on operations at Flint Assembly should boost the number of crew cabs and diesel-powered pickups that it builds. At GM, as elsewhere, big, loaded trucks are very big business indeed: Just last month, GM announced an expansion of Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 trucks at its other major assembly plant for these rigs, located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Flint Assembly, first opened in 1947, will add 1,000 jobs under these moves, bringing its total employment to about 5,000 workers.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 