Dive Brief:
- General Motors is investing $157 million in its Wentzville Assembly plant in Missouri to upgrade the facility’s paint shop, the automaker announced in a July 24 press release.
- The upgrades include a major refurbishing of the plant’s existing paint shop, along with the addition of new paint processing equipment and a 28,000-square-foot expansion to modernize the plant and keep it competitive over the long term, per the release.
- “These announcements are about more than any one program, product, or facility,” said Mike Trevorrow, GM SVP of Global Manufacturing, in a statement. “They show how we’re building flexible, long-term manufacturing sites that can meet today’s demand, support future launches, and strengthen our production footprint — while continuing to invest in the people who make it all possible.”
Dive Insight:
The Wentzville Assembly plant, which opened in 1983, currently builds the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups; and Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans. GM aims for the Wentzville plant to remain a key part of its U.S. manufacturing footprint over the long term. The plant has over 4,000 employees, per the release.
The investment in Wentzville follows a separate $275 million investment in GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee plant, announced in June, to support the automaker’s new 2.7L inline 4-cylinder engine program for its full-size and midsize trucks, as well as $150 million to launch a new internal-combustion-engine Cadillac XT6 model.
Like other legacy automakers, GM is pivoting away from electric vehicles after billions of dollars in EV write-downs due to sluggish sales. The company posted a 55% year-over-year decline in net income in 2025, which was primarily due to EV-related charges last year, including $6 billion alone in Q4 2025. As part of its transition from EVs, the automaker is adding capacity to produce more profitable full-size trucks and SUVs in the U.S. to meet demand, including for the production of new gas engines.
In May 2025, GM announced plans to invest $888 million in its Tonawanda Propulsion plant in New York to produce its next-generation 5.7L and 6.6L V8 gas engines, which will debut in the redesigned 2027 Chevrolet Silverado pickup slated to arrive at dealers later this year.
The investments last year were part of a larger $4 billion commitment across three U.S. plants, including in Michigan. GM last year said it would shift its Orion Assembly plant near Detroit toward production of full-size ICE trucks and SUVs, starting in early 2027.
GM also plans to shift production of the Chevy Blazer to Spring Hill next year. Both the gas-powered Blazer and Blazer EV are currently built at GM’s Ramos Arizpe Assembly Plant in Coahuila, Mexico.
In total, GM said it will invest approximately $9 billion across its U.S. manufacturing footprint this year alone, as well as another $7 billion on U.S. research and development to boost its U.S. manufacturing capacity and launch new vehicles, per the release.
During the company’s Q2 earnings call on July 21, Chair and CEO Mary Barra noted the automaker’s share of the U.S. full-size pickup market stood at more than 42% through the first half of 2026, which is more than 10 percentage points above that of its closest competitor.
