In 1973, General Motors (GM) announced plans to build assembly plant in Oklahoma City. Ground was broken in 1974, but construction was halted later that year "due to economic downturn". Construction resumed in 1977.
April 1979: Began production of Chevrolet Citation and Pontiac Phoenix ("X Cars) on one shift. (First car produced was a white 1980 Chevrolet Citation; it was donated to Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and is displayed in Made in Oklahoma Building at State Fairgrounds.)
January 1982: Ended Pontiac Phoenix production. Idled plant for "A-X conversion
May 1982: Resumed production with "A-X mix. (Chevrolet Celebrity, Buick Century and Chevrolet Citation)
1983 Oklahoma City is building the Celebrity, Century and Pontiac 6000.
April 1983: Ended X-Car production: Chevrolet Citation. Began "A production (Chevrolet Celebrity and Buick Century)
December 1983: Produced 1 millionth car, a Buick Century.
1984 Introduced A-Car station wagon
1985 Oklahoma City plant pilots the first-of-its-kind all-wheel-drive Pontiac 6000.
April 1987: Produced 2 millionth car, a Chevrolet Eurosport
December 1987: Added Pontiac 6000 (STE and STE all-wheel-drive)
February 1989: Olds Cutlass Ciera added to the Oklahoma City production line.
July 1989: Ended Chevrolet Celebrity production.
June 1991: Produced 3 millionth car, a 1991 Oldsmobile Ciera
July: Pontiac 6000, the only domestic car in the J.D. Power & Associates top-10 list for initial quality, discontinued.
August 1992: Oklahoma City plant receives the J.D. Power & Associates Gold Plant Quality award as the highest quality auto manufacturing plant on the continent.
Nov. 1992: Workers are told the redesign of the venerable A-car, planned for the 1995 model year, has been scrapped, and that Oklahoma City will build the Century and Ciera only through the 1996 model year.
1995: Produced 4 millionth car
August 1996: Ended A-car station wagon production. Ended A-car production: Buick Century and Oldsmobile Ciera. Idled plant for "P90 conversion.
October 1996: Began production of Chevrolet Malibu and Oldsmobile Cutlass (1997 P90 "N cars)
1999 Ended Oldsmobile Cutlass production.
2000 Produced 5 millionth car
2001 Ended Chevrolet Malibu production. Idled plant for truck conversion
2002 Began production of Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT and GMC Envoy XL (GMT 370)
January 2003: Began production of Isuzu Ascender (GMT 370).
December 2003: Began production of GMC Envoy XUV (GMT 305)
2004 General Motors Corp. announces it will temporarily idle its Oklahoma City assembly plant and four other facilities early 2005 because of an oversupply of sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks.
January 2005: The factory, in its second week of a two-week shutdown, will reopen Jan. 18. At least 250 hourly employees about 10 percent of the work force will be laid off when workers return, part of GM's decision to slow production of its seven-passenger Chevrolet TrailBlazer and GMC Envoy.
February 2006: After just 10 months, General Motors decides to end production of the GMC Envoy XUV, a vehicle with a sliding roof.
March 2006: Oklahoma City's General Motors assembly plant is one of several of the automaker's factories that started one week of downtime. Oklahoma City joins a sister plant in Moraine, Ohio, in the temporary shutdown, which General Motors said will help re-balance supply and demand for the mid-sized sport utility vehicles made at the factories.
Nov. 2006: General Motors announces it will eliminate 30,000 jobs and close nine North American assembly plants, including the plant in Oklahoma City.
All the above from
a Daily Oklahoman article