General MotorSs is set to invest some $148 million into its Spring Hill Manufacturing plant to increase production of its brands’ V8 engines.
The budget will go towards the re-purposing of flexible machining and assembly equipment at the plant to allow it to produce GM’s 6.2-liter small block V8 for the very first time.
The V8 in question differs from the same capacity engine used by Chevrolet for the Camaro and Corvette as it is only installed into trucks and SUVs, namely the Chevrolet Silverado Crew Cab, GMC Sierra Crew Cab, Yukon Denali, Yukon XK Denali, Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV.
This engine is currently built at sites in New York and Ontario and, by the fourth quarter of the year, will also be built at the Tennessee plant. Traditionally, it takes two to three years to add a new engine line to a plant, but thanks to the flexible machinery already at the Spring Hill Manufacturing plant it will be up and running in less than 12 months.
According to GM North American manufacturing manager Arvin Jones, “this investment will position GM and its workforce to promptly respond to consumer demand for this engine in the popular truck and SUV segment. The flexibility of Spring Hill’s engine machining and assembly equipment is allowing GM to respond deftly when additional engine variant capacity is needed.”
PHOTO GALLERY
