GM’s Next-Gen Small-Block V8 Will Arrive in 2027

A couple of years back, General Motors announced that it was investing about half a billion dollars into its Flint engine plant to support production of its next-generation small-block V8. This week, the company confirmed that it is on track to begin producing new engines in 2027, with an additional investment announced in the company’s Tonawanda propulsion plant in Buffalo, New York. While other automakers have been distancing themselves from eight-cylinder engines, this cash injection is even bigger than GM’s last, totaling nearly $900 million and signaling that the company intends to keep the V8 in production through at least the end of this decade.

The money will go toward new machinery, equipment, and tools, GM’s announcement said, as well as facility renovations. Production of the current engine family will continue uninterrupted during the upgrades. GM said this represents the largest single investment the company has ever made in an engine plant.

“Our significant investments in GM’s Tonawanda Propulsion plant show our commitment to strengthening American manufacturing and supporting jobs in the U.S.,” CEO Mary Barra said. “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 fuel efficient and higher performing, which will help us deliver world-class trucks and SUVs to our customers for years to come.”

The focus on trucks and SUVs may not stir the emotions of sports car fans, but the investment itself is still good news. In today’s market, if the business case can be made for a V8 in a truck or SUV, that’s the best chance it has to see production. And once it’s available in the proverbial parts bin, engineers will inevitably try to find more exciting homes for it.

Beloved by truck owners and sports car drivers alike, GM’s small-block has long served as an icon of American motoring, dating to the Chevrolet V8s of the mid-1950s and continuously in production in one form or another ever since. Though its reputation has become tarnished of late by quality issues that ultimately led to a broad recall of the company’s pickups and SUVs, the LT1 and L87 are still two of the best-regarded engines on the market today.