When most people are looking to buy a new vehicle they usually want to know where the vehicle is coming from. How and where the Chevy Silverado is manufactured does come up a lot.
Where is the Chevy Silverado Made? The Regular sized cab Silverado is manufactured in both Flint, Michigan and Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Crew Cab Silverado and all of Chevy’s larger pickups are manufactured in Silao, Mexico.
Keep Ready to find out more about the Chevy Silverado Manufacturing process and how it’s completed and put together.
GM In The Midwest
As of today, GM still has large factories in Spring Hill, Tennessee Arlington, Texas Flint, Michigan and Fort Wayne, Indiana.
These factories have been tasked with the manufacturing of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra for many years. They have a very optimized assembly line and can pump out about 1,000 trucks per day at each of their plants.
Assembly of the trucks begins with the frame which both of the trucks share as the same frame. The body, bed, and power train are being lined up and ready to go for assembly down the speedy line. The frame remains upside down while they begin installing the suspension parts and axles.
Parts are dropped from overhead conveyors for the assemblers to install on the truck, from a base model Double Cab to the GMC Sierra Denali Double Cab and Chevy Silverado High Country Double Cab, the speed of the conveyor line will slow down allowing the assemblers to have more time for the truck with many more parts and accessories.
The Cab is brought to the factory with the doors on and they are then removed to go down a separate line to have all their internal parts installed. The Robots will check the torque of all the major bolts to make sure they are up to spec, if not the line will shut down and alert the worker of the problem.
Overall for the GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado, the factory line is very optimized and the quality control for the trucks seems to be quite good. Whether or not the build quality of the individual parts and computers is great, is up for discussion. That seems to have little difference from the Mexican factories so far.
More and more parts on the Chevy Silverado seem to be plastic and plastic always wears out quicker than any kind of metal, this is once again not due to the assembly, but instead due to the weak engineering and design of their parts.
Made In Mexico
In 2019 General Motors began to move a lot of manufacturing of their larger truck and SUV models manufacturing out of the US. This was a move to obviously cut costs and try to ramp up production
It has been stated, that because of Nissan phasing out of the Mexico plants they were able to take full advantage of the space and ramp up their new truck designs output.
GM cut many US jobs to make this move, and did not simply just add to the production in Mexico without cutting back here in the US. Most people would prefer their new Truck or SUV to be built in America because they believe the overall quality will be much better, as well as they like the feeling of supporting an American worker, as do I.
I find it hard to believe that the Plants in Mexico could keep and hold up the same quality control standards as the ones in Michigan and Indiana. These factories have been perfected over decades and the ones in Mexico are just converted from other manufacturers to try and fit General Motor’s needs.
GM Moving More
GM has also moved some manufacturing to Canada and have a lot of their transmissions manufactured there. Prior to 2019 every Chevy Silverado was manufactured in the US factories but it does not look like that will ever be returning.
The Mexican labor is much cheaper and it’s hard to say whether the quality matches up to the Double Cab Silverado that is being manufactured here in the US or the ones prior to 2019.
I seriously doubt the quality will match up in the coming future models of the truck, the Mexican auto plants have never been regarded as putting out a high quality vehicle and it doesn’t seem like GM cares about its products quality anymore.
The Plant in Silao Mexico has been around since 1996 and has been known for its large engine assembly for many years.
In the past two years General Motors has added around 1,000 more jobs to its manufacturing in the US for both its Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra production. I find it odd that they much larger and more expensive versions of the pickups are made in Mexico where the quality is undoubtedly lower.
Most of my family have always owned a Chevy truck and enjoyed them a lot but I find it hard to support manufacturing the Silverado outside of America.
I don’t think the Chevy Silverado is going away anytime soon, I always see plenty of them on the road wherever I go as it is one of the staple trucks still in the US. If they were to move all of their manufacturing to Mexico I could definitely see them failing in the future.
General Motors seems to be in a constant battle with FORD in terms of overall sales and production. FORD has made major improvements to the weight a fuel economy of their F-150 over the past few years and they beating out general motors right now for the top truck handily.
Many owners I know who own a Chevy Silverado have had no problems with theirs for many years and they still love them. Sometimes you can buy any model or make of truck and it can have problems regardless of where it was manufactured, it can be a lemon.
I would prefer GM would move all there manufacturing back to the U.S. as would most every other truck owner who supports Chevy and GMC. Many other makes such as Toyota and Nissan manufacturer their trucks in the U.S but we will have to wait and see if that remains the case, with auto manufacturers constantly looking for ways to increase their profits incrementally.