Arlington Assembly
Arlington Assembly is a General Motors automobile factory in Arlington, Texas. The plant has operated for more than 60 years, and today manufactures only large and extended-size SUVs, and is currently the only GM SUV plant in the United States, as its plants in Janesville, Wisconsin and Silao, Mexico were closed down and consolidated its SUV production into the Arlington facility in 2009.
Operations history
The Arlington plant was opened in 1954 to assemble both automobiles and aircraft, but has focused on the former use for most of its history. The factory was the site of assembly for many large GM cars, including the 1980s Chevrolet Monte Carlo, 1994-96 Chevrolet Impala SS, and late-model Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks. The plant occupies 250 acres (1,000,000 square meters).
The first GM factory in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area was originally built in 1917 to build the Chevrolet Series 490 on the south side of West Seventh Street and Slayton Street just west of Trinity Park. Due to a flood of the Trinity River in 1922 and flood control taxes levied by the local government, GM closed the factory in 1924.[1]
Arlington Assembly originally built Chevrolet and Pontiac vehicles using the GM A platform starting in 1954, to include the Chevrolet Bel Air and the Pontiac Chieftain.
Arlington Assembly was the last GM B-body manufacturing facility (having gained the work from the closed Ypsilanti, Michigan facility when GM decided to consolidate production) prior to GM ending rear-wheel drive production and converting the plant to SUV production.
The light trucks that were produced at Arlington are now assembled at GM's Flint and Fort Wayne plants in the United States and at the Silao plant in Mexico.
Current vehicles produced
Since December 2013, the Arlington Assembly manufactures large SUVs based on GM's GMT K2XX platform:
Former vehicles manufactured at Arlington Assembly
- RWD GM B platform vehicles
- Buick Roadmaster (1991–96)
- Chevrolet Caprice (1966–96)
- Chevrolet Impala SS (1994–96)
- Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser (1991–92)
- RWD GM G platform vehicles
- Chevrolet Monte Carlo (1978–88)
- Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (1978–88)
- RWD GM D platform vehicles
- Cadillac Brougham (1988–92)
- Cadillac Fleetwood (1993–96)
- GMT400 light trucks (1988-99)
- GMT800 sport utilities (1999-2005)
- GMT900 sport utilities (2006–14)
- K2XX sport utilities (2014 - present)
Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Division (1945-1965)
Plants operating under Chevrolet Assembly management prior to General Motors Assembly Division management (most established pre-1945) were located at St. Louis, Missouri; Janesville, Wisconsin; Buffalo, New York; Norwood, Ohio; Flint (#2), Michigan; Oakland, California; Tarrytown, New York; Lakewood, Georgia; Leeds, Missouri; Baltimore, Maryland; Los Angeles (Van Nuys), California; Ypsilanti (Willow Run), Michigan; and Lordstown, Ohio. Framingham, Massachusetts is unusual in that it changed from B-O-P to Chevy management prior to becoming GMAD.
The terminology is confusing because most plants assembled more than just Chevrolet or B-O-P, and refers to the management structure only. The five brands originated vehicles from their respective "home" plants, where vehicles were assembled locally for their respective regions. Vehicles were also produced in "knock-down" kits and sent to the branch assembly locations. The "home" branches were Flint, Michigan for both Buick and Chevrolet; Oldsmobile at Lansing, Michigan; Pontiac at Pontiac, Michigan; and Cadillac at Detroit, Michigan.[2]
- Arlington Assembly, Arlington, Texas
- Doraville Assembly, Atlanta, Georgia
- Fairfax Assembly, Kansas City, Kansas
- Framingham Assembly, Framingham, Massachusetts
- Fremont Assembly, Fremont, California
- Linden Assembly, Linden, New Jersey
- South Gate Assembly, South Gate, California
- Wilmington Assembly, Wilmington, Delaware
See also
References
- ↑ Lost Fort Worth, page 52
- ↑ http://vcca.org/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/99892/Re_Fisher_Body_Company
Coordinates: 32°44′18″N 97°4′25″W / 32.73833°N 97.07361°W