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 large SUVs from GM's Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac divisions.

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. Early automobile production included models like the Chevrolet Bel Air and Pontiac Chieftain. The factory would continue to produce many large GM cars through the 1990s including products from Buick, Oldsmobile and Cadillac. Arlington Assembly was the last GM B-body manufacturing facility when GM decided to consolidate operations and convert the plant to SUV production. 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. Chevrolet also had another facility, now called the Chevrolet Motor Company Building in Dallas.

Current vehicles produced

Since December 2013, Arlington Assembly manufactures large SUVs based on GM's GMT K2XX platform:

• Chevrolet Tahoe/GMC Yukon
• Chevrolet Suburban/GMC Yukon XL
• Cadillac Escalade/Cadillac Escalade ESV

Former vehicles manufactured at Arlington Assembly

• RWD GM B platform vehicles
  • Buick Roadmaster (1991–1996)
  • Chevrolet Caprice (1966–1996)
  • Chevrolet Impala SS (1994–1996)
  • Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser (1991–1992)
• RWD GM A platform vehicles
  • Chevrolet Chevelle SS (1970-1972) - Some SS models were painted a shade of yellow shared with some Oldsmobiles and used a different sequential production number unlike other Chevelles produced at other GM assembly plants
  • Oldsmobile Cutlass 1968-1977
• RWD GM G platform vehicles
  • Chevrolet Monte Carlo (1978–1988)
  • Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (1978–1988)
• RWD GM D platform vehicles
  • Cadillac Brougham (1988–1992)
  • Cadillac Fleetwood (1993–1996)
• GMT400 light trucks (1988-1999)
• GMT800 sport utilities (1999-2005)
• GMT900 sport utilities (2006–2014)

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.

• 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

• List of General Motors factories