Monday, 1 October 2007
General Motors’ future product plan revealed via United Auto Workers contract
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The detailed future product plans of major automakers are rarely released beyond company walls due to strategic and competitive purposes. But as part of the recent agreement reached between General Motors and the United Auto Workers, GM has disclosed various upcoming programs and plans for production to the UAW as a means of guaranteeing investment in U.S. jobs. Last Friday, the UAW publicized the largest U.S. automaker’s plans.
Page 11 of the full report, available via The Wall Street Journal, lists the “Product Commitments at GM Assembly Facilities” for 16 distinct locations. Among the highlights: the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid electric vehicle will be built in Hamtramck, Michigan beginning in 2010, following another small car on the same platform in 2009. Earlier rumors had speculated that the Volt could be built in Mexico or by a third-party manufacturer. Lordstown, Ohio will be home to “Alpha” platform subcompact models beginning in 2011. Currently responsible for the Chevy Cobal and Pontiac G5, Lordstown will also build new “Gamma” four-door notchback models, starting in 2010.
Popular existing U.S. built models have also been slated to remain domestically produced. For example, Bowling Green, Kentucky is the home of the Chevy Corvette and Cadillac XRL, and will remain so when replacement models arrive in 2012. The HUMMER H3, Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon will continue in Shreveport, Louisiana through 2011, and next-generation H3 models will remain there beyond 2011. General Motors trucks and SUVs built on the GMT900 platform (Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Cadillac Escalade) and currently assembled in Arlington, Texas will stay at that location when the next generation arrives in 2013.
Sources: Detroit Free Press and The Wall Street Journal
Image: GM Media Online [Chevrolet Volt concept]
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