Bringing the thunder

May 30, 2025Newsletter Archives

For nearly nine decades, General Motors has been building engines at Tonawanda Propulsion, a 3.1-million-square-foot facility on a 190-acre site in Buffalo, on the banks of the Niagara River, 15 miles downriver from thundering Niagara Falls, the most powerful waterfall in North America. 

Seems like the perfect place for GM to produce our V-8 engines, used to power full-size trucks and SUVs. This past week, GM unveiled plans to invest $888 million in Tonawanda to support production of the sixth-generation V-8s, which are expected to deliver stronger performance than the current generation while benefiting fuel economy and reducing emissions. This will be the single largest investment GM has ever made in an engine plant. 

Production of the new engines is expected to begin in 2027. 

“Our significant investments in GM’s Tonawanda Propulsion plant show our commitment to strengthening American manufacturing and supporting jobs in the U.S.,” said Mary Barra, Chair and CEO. “GM's Buffalo plant has been in operation for 87 years and is continuing to innovate the engines we build there to make them more efficient and higher performing, which will help us deliver world-class trucks and SUVs to our customers for years to come.” 

The Tonawanda site has a rich history. GM broke ground in 1937; a few years later Tonawanda was fully engaged in supporting the American military as war broke out in Europe and Asia. The Tonawanda plant stopped producing automobile engines and shifted its assembly lines to build 14- and 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines for Allied planes like the P-61 Black Widow Night Fighter, the B-24 Liberator, and the P-47 Thunderbolt. 

Tonawanda currently builds a variety of engines for Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, and Buick – including the 6.2L LT2 Small Block V8, which powers the Corvette Stingray and E-Ray. This summer, Tonawanda will mark its 77 millionth engine build. 

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Also from GM News this week, we’ve got a new entry in our Retro Rides series about noteworthy vehicles from the company’s past, this time focused on the remarkable GMC Motorhome, an RV we sold during the mid-1970s. The Motorhome remains remarkably popular – most of them are still on the road, 50 years old and going strong. And the reason seems clear: It is arguably one of the best-looking recreational vehicles ever built. 

-- Eric Savitz, editor-in-chief, GM News