GM Arlington Assembly rolls out its 13 millionth vehicle: A $150,000 Cadillac Escalade-V

General Motors Arlington Assembly has produced its 13 millionth vehicle. If you want to buy it, though, it’ll cost you.

The 2024 Cadillac Escalade-V rolled off the production line at a ceremony held at GM Arlington on Friday morning commemorating the plant’s 70th anniversary. The car will re-enter into GM’s inventory and be sold to a customer. Pricing for the vehicle starts around $150,000.

The 2525 E. Abram St. plant has long been a pillar of Arlington’s economy, employing thousands of people over the past seven decades. The almost 6 million-square-foot plant has over 5,400 employees.

When it opened in 1954, it was a “dual purpose” facility producing Buick, Pontiac and Oldsmobile models as well as U.S. Navy Grumman aircraft.

Jan. 23, 1954: The first Buick produced at the General Motors plant in Arlington is presented to Mrs. Katrine Deakins, standing left of the car, and Mrs. J. Lee Johnson III. With them are, from left, E.C. Klotzburger, plant manager; A.J. Kemp, zone manager for Buick; John Alford, assistant zone manager at Dallas; and Sanford Webb, Fort Worth Buick dealer.

Today, GM Arlington Assembly builds six models of full-size, internal combustion engine SUVs: the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon and Yukon XL, and Cadillac Escalade and Escalade-V. The plant runs 24 hours a day, six days a week, producing almost one vehicle per minute.

A catalyst for Arlington’s growth

Luring General Motors to Arlington was one of newly elected Mayor Tom Vandergriff’s first accomplishments, and perhaps most consequential for the future of the city.

May 27, 1952: From left, Ben Critz, Tom Vandergriff, Amon Carter Sr., and John F. Gordon were the first to turn dirt at the new General Motors plant in Arlington, Texas, at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Arlington was a town of just 8,000 people at the time, surrounded by farmland between Fort Worth and Dallas; the new plant employed more than 2,000. Its arrival helped influence the location of Great Southwest Industrial Park in parts of eastern Arlington and western Grand Prairie. Six Flags Over Texas was a spinoff of the industrial park.

Aug. 3, 1951: This view looking northeast shows the entire 255-acre tract purchased by General Motors Corp. for a future plant of Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac division in Arlington. The site is bounded on the north by U.S. Highway 80 and T&P tracks, on east by Watson Road, on south by East Abram Street, and on west by Parkview addition.

And GM’s commuting workforce was a major factor in the decision to build the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike, opened in 1957 and later renamed Interstate 30.

“General Motors not only came to town, but the fact that someone of their stature saw merit in our location, that was so important,” Vandergriff told the Star-Telegram in 2002. He scrambled to help put together the right parcel of land to meet the giant automaker’s needs when it was looking for a site in 1951.The 1 millionth car would roll off the assembly line nine years after the plant opened — a shining 1965 Pontiac convertible.

July 19, 1965: A shining 1965 Pontiac convertible moves down the General Motors assembly line to become the 1 millionth automobile produced at the Arlington plant, which opened in 1954. Two models, Betty Cremer and Shirley Deis, wearing tiger outfits sit on the hood.

Today, GM is one of the biggest employers in Tarrant County and the largest industrial taxpayer as of 2022.

Friday’s anniversary ceremony was attended by a variety of stakeholders, including community members, plant employees, GM suppliers and government and city officials.

Barbara Odom-Wesley, the Arlington mayor pro tem and District 8 council member, remarked on the economic impact GM has had on Arlington over the past seven decades.

“These jobs have supported families, uplifted neighborhoods, and contributed to the vibrant economic fabric of our city,” Odom-Wesley said. “The ripple effect of GM’s investment extends far beyond the plant itself, fueling local businesses, enhancing infrastructure and driving growth across the region.”

Odom-Wesley also shared an official proclamation from the city declaring July 26, 2024, as General Motors day.

In June 2023, GM announced plans to invest $500 million in the Arlington Assembly facility. The automaker has invested over $2 billion in the plant since 2013.

Production of 2025 models is slated to begin in the third and fourth quarters of 2024.

GM’s second quarter earnings released Tuesday revealed some of the company’s pain points as it shifts focus to electric vehicles.

GM’s revenue was $47.97 billion, higher than many analysts expected. The company boosted its EBIT-adjusted earnings guidance to between $13 billion and $15 billion for the year, up half a billion from the previous estimate.

Despite the boost in revenue, GM stock dropped sharply, with investors fearing a decline in revenue later this year after the company made public its plans for future endeavors.

On a Tuesday earnings call, GM announced plans to delay the opening of an electric vehicle plant in Michigan, halt production of the Cruise Origin autonomous vehicle and scale back inventory in China, where it has struggled to gain a strong foothold in the country’s highly competitive EV market.