Being as popular as it is, the Chevy Silverado might have some fans, truck enthusiasts, or gearheads thoroughly interested in the manufacturing process involving one of the best-selling trucks in North America. Well, you’re in luck because I’m going to take you on a short trip into the assembly ecosystem of the Chevy Silverado and where it’s actually built. Some information might surprise you, while others might be common knowledge.
Whether you’re looking for a Chevy Silverado for sale near you and want to know more about where it’s being delivered from, or you’re just interested in the inner workings of the build and shipping process, this article will attempt to shed a bit more light on the Silverado’s assembly procedures. So, where does this story actually start? Well, it starts with the fact that not all the Silverado trucks and their parts are made in the same place or assembled at the same plant. In fact, the production is spread out across five different plants, including one in Mexico, one in Ohio, one in Michigan, one in Indiana, and one in Canada.
Chevy Silverado 1500 Models Made In Fort Wayne, Indiana
Approximately two types of Chevy Silverado 1500 models are made at the Fort Wayne plant in the US— the Silverado 1500 Double Cab and the Silverado 1500 Crew. And yes, the different configurations of the Silverado are made at different plants, giving each one a particular focus on one brand of Silverado unique to their plant.
The Fort Wayne plant has been building GM vehicles since 1986, initially assembling trucks and utility vehicles, and bears a long and storied history in the auto industry. GM has been moving to reinvest in the Fort Wayne plant soon for the upcoming line-up of next-generation light-duty Silverado pickups. This makes it a pivotal manufacturing site for GM and Chevy trucks, as the Fort Wayne plant has assembled more than 10 million vehicles from GM’s various brands since initially opening.
Chevy Silverado 1500 Models Made In Silao, Mexico
The Chevy Silverado 1500 models made at the Silao plant include the Regular Cab and the Crew Cab, alongside the GMC Sierra. The plant was initially opened a whole decade after the Fort Wayne plant, with its first year of operation in 1996. That was just a few years before the Silverado became its own nameplate, separate from the C/K line of Chevy pickup trucks.
The Silao plant manages the production of LTZ and High Country trims, along with the various powertrains and drivetrains associated with the vehicles. They manage everything from the 4.8-liter V8 all the way up to the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 powertrain. The plant was also responsible for producing nearly 200,000 trucks in 2022 alone. This makes it a critical GM plant within the Central American trucking market.
Chevy Silverado Models Made In Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
Multiple models of the Chevy Silverado full-size pickup are made at the Oshawa plant, including the Silverado 1500 Crew Cab, the Silverado 2500 HD, and the Silverado 3500 HD Crew Cab heavy-duty pickups. This is an interesting plant because it has a very long and detailed history of producing GM vehicles dating back to 1953, but had off-and-on usage by the company throughout the years until it was repurposed back in 2021, specifically for building Chevy Silverado light-duty and heavy-duty Crew Cab trucks.
What makes the Oshawa plant so interesting is that it has built multiple vehicles over the years, off and on, including various Buick models and Oldsmobile and Pontiac vehicles. However, it was most renowned for the Chevy vehicles produced there. Another fascinating tidbit is that it wasn’t until recently that the Oshawa plant became a dedicated manufacturing site for Chevy light-duty trucks, not just for the current generation but also for the next generation of Silverado models.
Chevy Silverado HD Models Made In Flint, Michigan.
Even though GM is headquartered in Detroit, surprisingly, one of the most popular vehicles made by the company has very little assembly presence in the state. Only the Silverado HD line-up of heavy-duty pickups are made at the Flint, Michigan plant— particularly the Regular Cab and Crew Cab iterations of the Silverado HD.
Hailed as the oldest and longest-running GM assembly plant, the Flint plant has operated since 1947. Interestingly enough, the Flint plant only built cars until the 1970s, wherein it was used mainly for truck assembly and utility vehicles. It was also quickly repurposed in the mid-1990s to handle the production of the GMT400 series of trucks, which would eventually morph into producing GMT800 series trucks. This meant it was fitted to assemble the very first generation of the Silverado nameplate by the turn of the millennium. The Silverado brand’s success has been greatly helped by the proficient assembly at the Flint plant, thanks to its ability to output trucks in a timely and reliable manner. For its contributions to the brand, Flint has seen a significant reinvestment of $1.7 billion into its production facilities for the next generation of internal combustion engine heavy-duty Silverado pickup trucks.
Chevy Silverado MD Models Made In Springfield, Ohio.
The final plant that assembles Silverado trucks is the one in Springfield, Ohio. Interestingly, this plant only assembles medium-duty trucks, hence the Silverado MD nomenclature. To note, Springfield is not a GM-owned plant but a plant operated by Navistar. This company assembles other vehicles and technologies within the automotive industry and is considered a member of the Volkswagen Group. This strategic partnership, however, sees Navistar using its plant to build out the Silverado 4500 HD, 5500 HD, and 6500 HD class of medium-duty trucks.
The plant has been assembling the Silverado MD line of trucks since 2019, as it’s one of the more recent plants to start making Silverado trucks. This is because GM had initially used an assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio, from 1966 to 2017. However, during its latter years, the Ohio plant was mostly for assembling other Chevy vehicles, specifically the Cruze. Despite much controversy, the plant was shut down on March 6th, 2019. Nevertheless, GM utilized the services of Navistar’s Springfield plant to start producing the Silverado MD trucks in that region.
Knowing Where A Chevy Silverado Was Made Based On The VIN
If you’re curious about where your Silverado was made, there’s an easy way to tell based on the VIN. This is an industry-wide standard, so you can know exactly where your brand-new model was assembled before arriving at the dealership where you bought or ordered it. There are easy indicators as to which country the vehicle was made in; a VIN that starts with a 1, 4, or 5 indicates it was assembled at a plant in America. A VIN with the number 3 indicates it was made in Mexico, while the number 2 means it was assembled in Canada.
For GM vehicles, in particular, there are RPO codes, which are three-digit codes that indicate which plant the vehicle was assembled. These RPO codes have been in use since the 1970s, and you can determine, based on the code and the 11th digit of the VIN, whether the vehicle was made at a plant in the US, Canada, or Mexico. The RPO code MSL with the 11th entry in the VIN that contains ‘G’ means it was assembled at the Mexico plant. RPO code CMD with an 11th digit ‘F’ would be the Flint plant, and FWI with the 11th digit ‘Z’ would be the Fort Wayne plant. So the next time you decide to grab a Chevy Silverado for sale, whether from a dealership or an online purchase, you can use this info to find out where your Silverado was assembled.
