GM, Navistar agreement

General Motors and Navistar have reached a long-term agreement to develop and assemble future medium-duty, conventional cab Class 4/5 commercial vehicles, which Navistar said will allow it to strengthen its product line-up and GM to expand its Chevrolet commercial truck portfolio.

“Bringing medium-duty conventional cab trucks back into the portfolio strengthens Chevrolet’s commitment to providing commercial customers with more choices and one-stop shopping for a versatile line-up of trucks, vans and crossovers,” said Ed Peper, U.S. vice president of GM Fleet and Commercial Sales.

The future products will be jointly developed using Navistar’s expertise in rolling chassis configurations and manufacturing capabilities, and GM’s commercial components and engines. The vehicles are slated for production in 2018 and will be manufactured at Navistar’s facility in Springfield, Ohio. Navistar plans to add 300 jobs and invest more than US$1- million in facility upgrades and state-ofthe-art equipment to produce the new vehicles.

“Our collaboration with GM is another example of our customer-centric, open integration approach— providing our customers with the best technologies available,” said Bill Kozek, president, Truck and Parts, Navistar. “By working with an industryleading company like GM, we’ll be able to enhance our medium-duty product portfolio and leverage our scale and expertise in manufacturing mediumduty trucks.”

Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Additional product information will be announced later, the companies said.