General Motors broke ground today on a diesel engine plant in Rayong, Thailand. The plant, which is scheduled to be operational in 2010, is expected to produce more than 100,000 2.5 and 2.8-liter diesel engines for the Chevrolet Colorado pickup.
The clean diesel engines were developed as part of a joint venture between GM and Italian VM Motori S.p.A. GM has a 50 percent equity stake in VM Motori – a joint venture initiated in 2007 with Penske Corporation. GM says that the diesel Colorados will be sold world-wide, though plans for North American sales could not be confirmed.
GM recently launched a Colorado (and its GMC Canyon twin) powered by a 5.3-liter V8 engine in North America for the 2009 model year.
