WENTZVILLE, Mo. – With a honk of the horn and a push on the gas, the next generation of midsize trucks rolled off the assembly line at GM’s Wentzville plant.
“We take great pride in the fact people have confidence in us to execute these things,” Lamar Rucker, the plant’s executive director, said. “So, this isn’t just a plant celebration, this is a community celebration.”
Rucker says it’s humbling to see the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon hit the market on time despite a global pandemic and chip shortage.
“The team’s done a tremendous job overcoming all those challenges, because they wanted to have the best launch that GM’s ever seen,” Rucker said. “I think they’ve done a very good job of getting us there.”
“Our workforce, to me, is probably the best in the corporation,” Dale Averitt, chairman of United Auto Workers Local 2250, said.
“General Motors relied on us by giving us $1.5 billion to invest into the plant to get this product out to the market, and each and every person in here wanted to make for sure that did happen.”
With more than 4,000 local employees working hard to accomplish this goal, both men believe they’ve proven to the company and the community what the Wentzville plant is all about.
“We understand our importance, and the people understand this is their job security,” Rucker said. “Having this truck is their job security, as we keep trying to put ourselves in position to continue to get more and more new work here.”
“Put all our energy now to getting some kind of an EV product in here to secure the future for our plant, the city, the county, and the state,” Averitt said.