GM to drop $700m on crossover plant
After GM's mercy killing of its slow-selling minivans, the heads of the General are working towards filling the seven-passenger, non-SUV gap that will soon exist in their lineup.
Crossovers have been the favored saviors of the people mover segment, and as such, General Motors has decided that the former Saturn-only plant in Spring Hill, Tenn. would be the beneficiary of a thorough overhaul to meet the expected demand. In a plan that will invest over $700 million into the aging production line, GM will outfit the plant with more up-to-date manufacturing equipment that has the potential to produce up to 350,000 vehicles per year.
General Motors' front-wheel-drive, Lambda-based crossovers currently include the new Saturn Outlook, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave, all of which are possible products that could roll off the line in Spring Hill.
[Source: Automotive News –- Sub. Req.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Uncle Jed 7:04AM (12/18/2006)
Not sure I'd call this an aging plant; It's newer than, for example, Honda's Marysville plant.
It is good news for GM, the workers at Spring Hill and, I guess, bad news for Carlos Ghosn, since I would have thought this would have been the one plant that he really wanted (in Tennessee, relatively new, modeled after transplant operations, etc.)...
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All World Automotive 9:14AM (12/18/2006)
Let's hope everyone buys. Thats a lot to dump on an aging plant.
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tim 8:12AM (12/18/2006)
these things are pretty good looking. we'll definately look at one when they reach the dealerships, as we need a 7 passenger vehicle.
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Blaster 8:19AM (12/18/2006)
tim, it's not only good looking, it's as a matter of fact
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Ivan the Terrible 10:45AM (12/18/2006)
These vehicles look much better (except for the Buick clone, which looks unnecessarily "baroque" exterior) than the StupidUglyVechicles GM and Ford and DC have produced in the past, BUT, PHUL:EASE! A crossover weighing 5,000 lbs+???? 5,000 lbs is too much EVEN for a REAL, Body-on-frame, TRUCK bASED stupid SUV!
THat's incompetent design for you. The same vehicles (dimensions safety and powerplant) should weigh NO MORE than 4,000 lbs. and even THAT is too much for today;s energy reality.
MArkets to GM (ford and Chrysler): WILL YOU EFFING EVER GET IT RIGHT????????
PERFORM OR GO EXTINCT, IDIOTS!
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Paul 11:13AM (12/18/2006)
ivan
i agree. why is GM spending 700m to build a plant to make another oversized dino. everyone should boycott american products until stupid companies like gm and ford are past tense. with the quality products coming from asia they has no right to exist anyway.
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roar 11:14AM (12/18/2006)
I have been driving a Saturn Outlook for a week now. It drives like a car, I am getting just over 23 miles to the gallon in combination driving, I took 6 adults to dinner on Saturday and all were very comfortable, we avoided taking two vehicles. I could carry on a conversation with the people in the third row without yelling. I need the space for kids and their stuff. I can tow my boat with the vehicle. I think I have a winner. I looked at the Honda Pilot, worse milage and rode like a truck. roar
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John 11:46AM (12/18/2006)
THat's incompetent posting for you. IVan wILL YOU EVER GET IT RIGHT????????????????
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Ivan the Terrible 12:20PM (12/18/2006)
8. THat's incompetent posting for you. IVan wILL YOU EVER GET IT RIGHT????????????????
Posted at 11:45AM on Dec 18th 2006 by John
Worthless personal attacks.
Quote ONE IOTA in my post, you lord of the village idiots, that is WRONG!
(Long pause)
COnclusion: I STILL got it 100.00% right, and YOU Moron and GM do not.
and the sales and profits Data PROVE IT.
Keep losing home games to the Japanese and the Euros (in luxury cars) for ANOTHER 35 years IN A ROW!
Good job, arrogant Detroit morons!
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roar 12:03PM (12/18/2006)
#6
Honda Pilot 4524# 5 pass vehicle MPG 18/24
Mazda CX9 4600# 7 pass vehicle MPG 18/23
Subaru B9 Tribeca #4200 5 pass MPG 18/23
Toyota Highlander #3935 7 pass MPG 19/25
Saturn Outlook 4700# 8 passenger MPG 18/26
Seems way out of bounds. Did Toyota just build a new truck plant? roar
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Rocky Robinson 12:30PM (12/18/2006)
I love to see the GM haters struggle now that GM has high volume vehicle that beats anything the imports have to offer. I challenge anyone to do a search of Google news and find a single negative review of the Outlook or Acadia. You won't find one. The critics love these vehicles. More room, more refinement, better styling and better fuel economy than any competing vehicle...including the Pilot, Highlander or Edge
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Ivan the Terrible 2:51PM (12/18/2006)
11. I love to see the GM haters struggle
Can you read? it is GM, not its correct critics, that struggle:
"Honda Pilot 4524# 5 pass vehicle MPG 18/24
Mazda CX9 4600# 7 pass vehicle MPG 18/23
(loser ford Edge clone)
Subaru B9 Tribeca #4200 5 pass MPG 18/23
(ugliest car on earth, after the Aztek)
Toyota Highlander #3935 7 pass MPG 19/25
a WINNER, and it was designed YEARS before the Stupid 5,000 Lb GM elephants. And so was the Honda Pilot. And BULLETPROOF RELIABILITY AND SUPERB INTERIOR QUALITY. Luxiry car quality at average car prices)
"Saturn Outlook 4700# 8 passenger MPG 18/26"
And 5,000 lbs for the other variants, or with options. LUDICROUSLY HEAVY for a sissy crossover (NOT A REAL TRUCK, body-on-frame) design.
Are these GM people RETARDED? In the midst of all the wailing about gaS PRICES, they bring out a 5,000 lb monstrocity? Weren't they happy with their New Big SUVs and Trucks? Weren't THOSE STUPID inefficient vehicles enough IRRELEVANT product for our times?
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Ivan the Terrible Sucks Balls 2:35PM (12/18/2006)
Nice to see the plant coming back.
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tim 3:03PM (12/18/2006)
why don't you domestic haters relax a little? gm and ford and chrysler are just selling what your neighbors are buying.
don't worry, the japs will have plenty of small, boring, ubiquitous vehicles for you people to consume by the millions, even if the domestics rebound and start selling more cars. why not root for the home team once in a while, instead of stab them in the back.
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tim 3:05PM (12/18/2006)
...and another thing...why do you asian car lovers always forget that toyota and nissan have the biggest of the big in terms of suv's? they build heavy, thirsty, behemoths just the same. oh, wait, that doesn't jive with your asian loving attitudes.
hypocrites.
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Lord of the village idiots 3:17PM (12/18/2006)
Ivan, you missed my point. I was showing the irony of you calling GM engineers incompetent for putting out an 8 passenger SUV, that in your opinion is too heavy (100 lbs heavier than competing 7 passenger SUVs), while you cannot complete the simple task of submitting a comment to a blog without several misspellings and typos.
The fact that the SUV in question is not overweight in comparison to its competitors and gets as good gas mileage as they do, shows that your comments aRE IRRELEVANT!!!!!!!!
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Ivan the Terrible 4:12PM (12/18/2006)
Lord of the rocket scientists:
Don't worry, I got all your points.
here are some of mine that you obviously missed:
1. Quality and Reliability will trump all other considerations.
2. Once you lose your good name, it is very hard to get it back. So the Big 3 may eventually produce vehicles that are as reliable and as high-quality and high-value as Hondas and Toyotas, but the markets will not realize that until decades pass and they see PROOF.
So some words, like "Honda" or "Toyota" have HUGE (in the Billions) BRAND NAME VALUE, while others, like "GM, Ford, and Chrysler, Huyndai, Kia anf Yugo, and even Nissan and Subaru (Ugly as hell) and Suzuki and esp. Mitsubishi (what total crap!) have EARNED a very different reputation.
TO those that call me and others "Asian Lovers", the term is inappropriate, maybe only Hondas are "love-worthy", Toyotas are more of a Huge value, and a trusted appliance, with rather poor driving performance, so they are not for enthusiasts.
I love my BMW, that I bought dirt-cheap last Oct 05, (a 1998 740iL movie-star (see relevant Bond 97 movie, same color and dimensions), but I appreciate and trust my 16-yr old Accord COupe 5-speed monument to reliability, high quality, good handling, good styling, and amazing value.
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whofan 4:40PM (12/18/2006)
"...and another thing...why do you asian car lovers always forget that toyota and nissan have the biggest of the big in terms of suv's? they build heavy, thirsty, behemoths just the same. oh, wait, that doesn't jive with your asian loving attitudes".
Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!
Last time I counted Toyota builds more variations of the SUV than does GM.
Pound for Pound GM trucks are more fuel effiecent too.
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Ivan the Terrible 11:20AM (12/19/2006)
"Last time I counted Toyota builds more variations of the SUV than does GM."
No doubt Toyota is no saint. They want to overtake GM world-wide, so, unlike Honda, they expand their capacity and they build what the public wants, and when fuel is still dirt cheap at $2.50 or $3.50, they will build Pickup Trucks for Hillbillies and FAtass SUVs for Soccer Moms, and not fuel efficient diesel compacts that they build in Europe where fuel is $6-$7 a gallon!
Only higher gas prices will return markets to SANITY and make the silly breadvans on stilts large SUVS (few of whose buyers really NEED them, or drive them as designed, ie OFF ROAD) EXTINCT.
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Craig N. Cote 6:09PM (12/21/2006)
Hey Rocky, Will they be putting Honda engines into this Saturn too? Boy, for a company that GM claimed would "Out Japanese the Japanese", the "Buy American" sure has gone out the window. Will it be labled "An American Revolution" like it's Korean, or Mexican, or Canadian made cousin Chevrolets are? Better than a Highlander huh, wait and see what Kelly Blue Book has to say and better yet, see who'll even be around in years to come. Maybe GM had some extra cash after selling it's Japanese investments for research into new models! Saturn? What a joke!
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