The way to produce equally old (K2) and new (T1) Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 pickup trucks was a clever way of creating a smooth transition from one important pair of half-ton pickups to some all-new and just as important (some might say more) half-ton pickups.
According to Automotive News, the creation of new and old variants of Chevrolet and GMC half-ton systems must be complete by the end of 2019. Because GM has two plants producing the trucks, the automaker was able to construct a little backlog of pickups for the dealer pipeline and maintain the plant in Silao, Mexico, running while adapting over the Fort Wayne, Ind., plant to produce the crew- and double-cab versions of their all-new 2019 Silverado/Sierra 1500 system with the V-8 motors. The Mexico plant is expected to begin producing routine - and crew-cab 2019 Chevrolet and GMC half-ton trucks from the first quarter of 2019.
Another piece of strategic genius turned out to be creating what GM known as the"Oshawa shuttle," which enabled the automaker to lighten the manufacturing load in the Fort Wayne plant by sending double-cab Silverado and Sierra 1500s to its Oshawa, Ontario, plant to be painted and constructed. That resulted in very little production downtime during the transition and enabled Chevy and GMC to be more flexible as orders for the new half tons came in by U.S. dealerships.
The all-new trucks started arriving at dealerships at the end of this third quarter; by this time in 2019, the only pickup being produced by GM will be the T1 stage at all three cab styles รข$" regular, double and crew.
