WENTZVILLE, Mo. – Saturday’s hailstorm in Wentzville not only grabbed the attention of the viewer who shared a video with FOX 2, but Brian Maloney caught wind of the severe weather more than 800 miles away in Lubbock, Texas.
“I’m part of a Facebook group, 2023 Canyons, and Colorados, and they reported over the weekend several people, some that work at dealers that approximately 3,300 new Chevy Colorados or Canyons that were damaged by hail at the plant or holding facilities,” Maloney said.
Missouri weather wouldn’t ordinarily matter to Maloney, but he said he ordered a 2023 Chevy Colorado from his local dealer in March. Just last Thursday, he learned his truck was built at the Wentzville plant.
“I hope mine wasn’t involved and hope it’s not on the list,” Maloney said.
FOX 2 was at GM’s Wentzville plant in January when the next generation of Chevy Colorados and GMC Canyons rolled off the assembly line. The event celebrated the vehicles hitting the market on time despite a global pandemic and chip shortage.
“The team’s done a tremendous job overcoming all those challenges because they wanted to have the best launch that GM’s ever seen,” said Martin Rucker, executive director of GM’s Wentzville plant. “I think they’ve done a very good job of getting us there.”
Considering everything it took to get those trucks on the road, customers like Maloney hope Mother Nature didn’t rain on the parade of trucks leaving the Wentzville plant. And if it did, he wants answers.
“We would like as customers, because there’s thousands of us out there waiting, to at least know are they going to repair them at the factory or are they going to ship them out?” Maloney said. “Are we going to get a discount because they have been damaged? We just want some kind of insight from General Motors.”
High above the plant on Monday, FOX 2’s DroneFOX couldn’t spot any damage to the vehicles visible on the lot. Nonetheless, we contacted General Motors and asked if any vehicles were damaged in the St. Louis area as a result of recent storms.
In a statement, a GM representative said the following:
“During a storm that occurred in the St. Louis metro area in April, minor hail damage was reported to some vehicles produced by GM Wentzville assembly. These are currently being repaired and will go through our standard quality checks before being shipped to our customers.”
So while it appears last weekend’s storms didn’t cause any damage, there were vehicles impacted by recent storms. It’s unclear if Maloney’s truck was one of them. We’ll, of course, keep you updated on when those repairs are complete and when the vehicles are expected to head to the dealer’s lots.
