By James Jaillet
General Motors and Navistar have reached a long-term agreement to develop and assemble medium-duty, conventional cab Class 4 and 5 commercial vehicles, confirming rumors of late that the two were set to strike a deal on medium-duty vehicles.
There will be two versions of the trucks produced in the partnership—one Navistar-International branded line and one GM/Chevy-branded line. There will be some cosmetic differences between the two, but the trucks will be the same at their core.
GM will not comment on engine availability yet.
The vehicles will be jointly developed using Navistar’s rolling chassis configurations and manufacturing capabilities and GM’s commercial components and engines. The vehicles will begin production in 2018, the companies said, and will be manufactured at Navistar’s facility in Springfield, Ohio. Navistar plans to add 300 jobs and invest more than $12 million in facility upgrades and state-of-the-art equipment to produce the new vehicles, the company said.
Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Additional product information will be announced later.
The move comes four months after GM announced that it would re-badge and distribute Isuzu-built medium-duty trucks under the Chevy brand, beginning in 2016. The Chevrolet 3500, 3500HD, 4500, 4500HD, 5500 and 5500 HD are based on Isuzu’s N-Series.
