(Reuters) – General Motors Co said on Monday it plans to invest more than $1 billion in two of its manufacturing sites in Flint, Michigan, as it looks to ramp up production of its internal combustion engine heavy-duty (HD) trucks.
With this, GM’s U.S. manufacturing and parts distribution facility investment stands at more than $30.5 billion since 2013, according to the company’s statement.
The U.S. automaker will invest $788 million in its Flint assembly plant, which builds the Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD trucks, to include a body shop building expansion, general assembly conveyor expansion and new tooling and equipment.
It will invest another $233 million in its Flint metal center to add new stamping dies, press refurbishments and new equipment.
The investments are in line with the Detroit automaker’s plans to invest more than $1.7 billion for Flint-area operations in 2023.
The efforts come as GM competes with Ford’s Super Duty and other heavy-duty versions of Stellantis NV’s Ram pick up, which are among the most profitable vehicles sold today by the Detroit’s Big Three automakers, or any rival.
Last year, GM sold nearly 288,000 trucks with HD pickup sales, which rose 38% from a year earlier.
(Reporting by Priyamvada C in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
