If anyone needs a reminder of the cyclical nature of America’s economy, there’s no better example (this week, at least) than today’s announcement from General Motors that it will collaborate with commercial-truck giant Navistar International to design and build midsize commercial trucks.
It is a market GM desperately wanted to exit less than a decade ago. The company was barreling towards its inevitable insolvency and the U.S. economy was, unknown at the time, being rigged with the groundwork for the Great Recession.
Now, with the economy regaining strength in nearly every sector, the demand for commercial trucks is rapidly expanding in concert. And GM and Navistar, living healthier fiscal lifestyles, apparently see in the manufacture of these trucks – “medium-duty” models in industry parlance – sufficient revenue potential to satisfy both companies.
For GM, “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 lineup of trucks, vans and crossovers,” said Ed Peper, U.S. vice president of GM Fleet and Commercial sales, in a statement.
Although the two companies will collaborate on the design of the trucks, they will be assembled at a Navistar factory in Springfield, Ohio. Navistar said the venture will add about 300 jobs and include an $12-million upgrade of the facility. Navistar will supply most of the chassis and underbody components and GM will furnish engines and other targeted components.
The first trucks from the new collaboration will be launched in 2018, the companies said.
General Motors built its own medium-duty trucks for decades prior to dumping the business in 2009 as a casualty of the bankruptcy the company declared on June 1 of that year. Navistar, meanwhile, has been searching for a truck-making partner since it ended its longstanding collaboration with Ford Motor last year.
