$8.5 Billion Auto Component Wave Includes Stellantis Kokomo Engine Line Expansion

Daniel BurkePublished every day

Industrial Info Resources is tracking $8.5 billion in active and planned North American auto component capital projects, up 29 percent from $6.6 billion just four months ago, with about 80 percent of that investment in the U.S. GM leads with $1.9 billion including an $888 million Tonawanda, New York engine plant. In Kokomo, Stellantis is installing a new assembly line so that production of a fresh four-cylinder GMET4 EVO gasoline engine can start before 2026 ends. Toyota is expanding hybrid engine production in West Virginia, Ford is putting $500 million into its Essex Engine Plant in Windsor, Ontario, and Minth Group is spending $430 million in Gadsden, Alabama. Roughly two-thirds of this wave is flowing into gasoline engine and transmission tooling rather than EV lines, the same pattern showing up at Kokomo where Samsung SDI's storage pivot and Stellantis's gas engine expansion are happening on the same campus.

Impact

This isn't a steady drumbeat of investment: IIR's own tracking shows the $8.5 billion figure is up 29% from $6.6 billion just four months ago, meaning the reshoring pipeline is accelerating, not holding steady. The Kokomo GMET4 EVO line is part of a broader industry bet on gasoline engines over EVs right now: Ford is simultaneously deprioritizing F-150 Lightning assembly for gas and hybrid trucks, and the U.S. declined to renew USMCA on July 1, 2026, triggering tighter rules-of-origin talk that makes U.S.-sited engine plants like Kokomo's more valuable than Mexican alternatives.

Watch

Whether Stellantis hits its stated year-end 2026 start date for GMET4 EVO production at Kokomo, and any news from the ongoing USMCA annual review process affecting rules of origin for engine components.

For the huddle

Given that two-thirds of this $8.5 billion wave is flowing into traditional gasoline engine and transmission tooling rather than EV lines, are our own capital plans still calibrated to an EV timeline the broader industry is now quietly walking back?

Yes. Three of Starplus Energy's four lines have converted from EV to storage production and roughly two-thirds of the current $8.5 billion national auto component investment wave is going into gasoline and transmission tooling, not EV lines.

Sources

U.S., Canada Auto Component Manufacturing Brings $8.5 Billion in Capital Investment · industrialinfo.com

Earlier coverage

From the brief, November 4, 2026

Samsung SDI Begins Kokomo LFP Battery Shipments on 60 GWh Order Book
Indiana Office of Energy Development Pitches Nuclear and SMRs Amid Data Center Moratoriums
AEP Creates AEP Infrastructure Unit as Indiana Michigan Power Races to Serve 3.1 GW of Data Center Load
$8.5 Billion Auto Component Wave Includes Stellantis Kokomo Engine Line Expansion
September Factory Orders Beat Expectations as Tariff-Driven Margin Squeeze Builds

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