WASHINGTON, D.C. — GM Defense LLC, a subsidiary of General Motors, today announced it has started renovations of an existing GM building to support the production of the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV), a light and agile all-terrain troop carrier intended to transport a nine-soldier infantry squad.
Located near Hendrick Motorsports in Concord, North Carolina, the facility will produce ISVs for the U.S. Army as part of a contract awarded to GM Defense in June 2020. GM Defense celebrated the delivery of its first ISVs in October of the same year, just 120 days from contract award.
Hendrick Motorsports, which has extensive experience developing race cars in high-load, high-risk environments, is responsible for providing the chrome-moly steel exoskeleton of the vehicle frame, including the ISV ROPS system.
Construction at the 75,000-square-foot facility is expected to continue into early spring, and the production line will begin delivering vehicles in April. As GM Defense ramps to full-rate production, the facility will help to manufacture 649 ISVs and will support the production of up to 2,065 vehicles with additional authorization over eight years. The ISV program is the first major award for GM Defense since the subsidiary was re-established by its parent company in 2017.
“We have tremendous momentum behind our ISV win, featuring a first-of-its-kind tactical wheeled vehicle that gives our soldiers speed, durability and performance to enhance mission success,” said Tim Herrick, interim president of GM Defense. “GM Defense is responsible for the design, engineering and manufacturing of the ISV. This facility will enable us to meet our customer’s timeline for delivery while continuing our journey to bring commercial technologies and transformative mobility solutions to the defense market.”
The ISV is based off the award-winning 2020 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 midsize truck architecture and leverages 90 percent proven commercial-off-the-shelf parts, including Chevrolet Performance race components.
GM Defense is driving the future of military mobility by leveraging the best-in-class capabilities of General Motors for unmatched innovation, proven performance and breakthrough life-cycle economics. The ISV will bring world class manufacturing efficiencies, ease of maintenance and a well-established global supply chain to the U.S. Army.