GM to invest additional $20 million in Texas plant ahead of all-new, full-size SUV launch

The new upgrades at Arlington are scheduled to be completed next year.

“We’ve been building trucks in Texas for more than 20 years, and our additional investment in Arlington Assembly is proof of our commitment and confidence in our Arlington team,” said Gerald Johnson, GM executive vice president of Global Manufacturing. “We are counting on the Arlington team to continue focusing on building the highest quality products possible for our customers while preparations continue for the launch of the next generation of our full-size SUVs.”

Arlington Assembly is the sole producer of the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon and Yukon XL and the Cadillac Escalade.

GM has a long history of dominating the full-size SUV market since creating the segment in 1935. Last year, GM dealers in the United States delivered more than 282,000 full-size SUVs — almost four vehicles for each one delivered by the company’s closest competitor. GM’s full-size SUVs are exported to many markets around the globe.

GM has invested more than $4.2 billion in three U.S. assembly plants – Arlington, Flint, Michigan and Fort Wayne, Indiana – to prepare for the launches of its next generation pickups and SUVs and to increase capacity, further improve build quality and drive operating efficiencies.

GM’s new trucks and SUVs are also driving new investments at plants in Moraine, Ohio to expand diesel engine production, Toledo, Ohio to expand 10-speed transmission production and more.

Since 2009, GM has invested more than $23 billion in its U.S. manufacturing base — more than one-quarter of every dollar spent by any automaker.

Opened in 1954, Arlington employs 4,500. The plant converted from car to truck production in 1997. Arlington Assembly operates on three shifts of production.

Through a series of purchase agreements for wind power, Arlington Assembly runs entirely on wind energy, earning the plant a spot on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Top 100 List of the largest green power users.