Inside GM’s Bowling Green Assembly plant—best known as the home of the Chevrolet Corvette—sits the Performance Build Center (PBC), a specialized 20,000-square-foot workshop where the company’s most powerful engines are assembled by hand.
This exclusive area is responsible for powering GM’s elite performance lineup, including the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing, Escalade-V, and the Corvette Z06.
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The star of the show is the LT7 engine, a twin-turbo 5.5-liter flat-plane-crank V8, debuting in the 1,064-horsepower 2025 Corvette ZR1. Set to enter production later this quarter, the ZR1 will be the most powerful and fastest GM vehicle ever built.
PBC area manager Brad Daughenbaugh calls the LT7 “a symbol of innovation, precision, and passion.”
Unlike typical assembly lines, the PBC employs about 70 master builders who manually construct each engine, moving them station to station instead of using a conveyor. Every engine is completed with a custom nameplate bearing the builder’s name and signature—an emblem of craftsmanship.
The center produces roughly 90 engines a day and demands a rigorous entry process, including assessments, interviews, and six weeks of training.
Originally located in Michigan, the PBC relocated to Kentucky in 2013. For team members like Todd Browning, who has personally built over 1,000 engines, the work is more than a job—it’s a lifelong passion.
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