Production of the previous-generation Chevrolet Silverado will continue through the 2019 calendar year. This production will continue to occur alongside the new model Silverado that recently went on sale.
According to Automotive News, this process of building the old truck, designated internally as K2, will continue through 2019 while being slowly phased out. CFO Dhivya Suryadevara told Automotive News that crew cab models will phase out first, followed then by the double cab models and then eventually the regular cab versions in the second half of next year.
The new truck’s crew cab models began production in Fort Wayne, Indiana, earlier this year, followed by the double cab models that began production in October. The plant in Silao, Mexico, should be online in January and will begin production of the regular cab models along with crew cabs.
During the changeover for the new T1 model pickups, GM’s Oshawa, Ontario, plant constructed the double cab bodies and then shipped them to Fort Wayne to complete assembly. Called the “Oshawa shuttle,” the process reduced downtime and allowed the company to produce the number of trucks needed to sustain a new vehicle launch.
Continued production of the current truck, which The Drive
recently spent some time with, shouldn’t be taken as an indication of poor selling performance of the new model. This is something that GM has done before, and Ram is currently still building the previous generation single cab pickups for the time being.
GM doesn’t report sales numbers monthly anymore, so we’ll get our first real taste of how well the new truck is selling at the end of the year.