General Motors announced today that it will add a $200 million stamping plant to its Arlington Truck Assembly Plant that will add another 180 jobs to the facility.
The sheet metal stamping facility, to be built adjacent to the assembly plant, will be used to produce a new lineup of full-size sport utility vehicles beginning sometime in 2013. The company indicated last month that Arlington was being considered for the project.
The facility will strengthen the Arlington plant's long-term viability, city officials said.
Locating the plant in Arlington "makes sense for GM," said Tracy Handler, an analyst for IHS Automotive. "It's such an iconic plant for Texas. Those are big pieces, and shipping, even by rail, is costly and time-consuming."
The investment not only creates "good American manufacturing jobs" but also would help save the company money as it works to remain competitive globally, Deputy City Manager Trey Yelverton said.
"That's good not only for us and potential workers but for GM," said Yelverton, adding that the stamping facility could manufacture parts for other assembly plants in the Southern United States.
Earlier this month, the City Council approved a 10-year, 90 percent tax abatement for GM on new buildings and equipment if the stamping plant is built. The tax break would save GM more than $1 million annually in city taxes if it chose Arlington for the facility. As part of the deal, Arlington agreed to waive building permit fees and other developer fees.
The incentive package is identical to what the city offered GM for the ongoing $331 million body shop expansion and retooling project.
That deal is expected to save GM $1.2 million annually in city taxes for 10 years. The assembly plant expansion project is expected to create 110 jobs, on top of more than 2,500 now employed.
Construction on the 130,000-square-foot body shop expansion is under way.
"As long as they are still looking at the plant and looking to reconfigure it, it tells us it's still valuable to the company," said Economic Development Manager Bruce Payne.
GM previously announced that it will build a new generation of full-sized SUVs in Arlington, which has built the previous three generations of those vehicles.
Handler said she doesn't expect production of the new vehicles, which will be 2014 models, to begin until the third quarter of 2013.
Sales of the existing product line, which includes the Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe, as well as GMC and Cadillac versions of the same-sized vehicles, were strong again in 2011, Handler said. Inventories of unsold vehicles "are really low."
The Arlington assembly plant, now more than 3.5 million square feet, opened more than 50 years ago. In 2011, GM selected the Arlington plant from a handful of facilities nationwide to manufacture the next-generation SUVs. It is the only plant that produces GM's large SUVs.
"They are enormously important," Payne said. "They've been a great neighbor since 1954. They helped create the Arlington that we know today."
This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
