General Motors said strong sales of the redesigned 2020 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy duty pickups had prompted it and Isuzu to spend $175m at the DMAX joint venture to build a diesel engine components plant in Brookville, Ohio.
The 251,000 square foot facility would expand production of components for the current DMAX diesel engine manufacturing operation in Moraine, Ohio.
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DMAX is owned 60% by GM and 40% by Isuzu Diesel Services of America.
The two companies have, under varying degrees of cross-ownership, partnered on light and heavy commercial vehicles, and, also at times cars, since the early 1970s.
The project would add 100 new manufacturing jobs at Brookville where preliminary construction work has already begun.
Construction of the new factory would be completed by the end of 2020. Brookville would operate concurrently with the current DMAX operations in Moraine once built.
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By GlobalData"Strong demand for GM's all-new family of Chevrolet and GMC heavy and medium duty pickups is driving us to find ways to build more Duramax diesel engines," said GM global manufacturing head Gerald Johnson.
"The Brookville investment will enable us to machine more engine blocks and heads and ultimately enable our DMAX engine plant in Moraine to build more 6.6-litre diesel engines for our Flint truck assembly plant."
GM said heavy duty trucks account for about 25% of full size pickup sales in the US.
The Silverado and Sierra HDs target buyers who need maximum capability and the company expects "significant growth" in the segment.
It has consolidated heavy duty pickup production at Flint where it installed new body and paint shops and created 1,000 jobs to support a capacity increase of 40,000 units compared to the outgoing model.
The new HD truck model lines launched in production earlier this year and started reaching dealers in July as part of a plan to build retail stock by the end of first half 2020. The company is "sharply" increasing production of crew cab and diesel models to meet growing customer demand.
The Duramax V8 turbodiesel is combined with an Allison transmission.
GM said DMAX had built 2m diesel engines since the factory opened in 1999. It employs 900 and 670 hourly employees are unionised.
