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Union contract reveals dates and locations of Volt and Alpha production
The Holden Torana concept might provide a hint of the Alpha platform
After the UAW leadership sat down with regional and local leaders in Detroit on Friday to review the tentative agreement with GM, a list of future plant assignments was leaked. Part of the contract included commitments from GM to assign new work to sixteen assembly plants over the next few years. Several platforms that have been up in the air showed up on the list. One of the most important that has been the subject of some speculation recently is the Chevy Volt.
It had been thought that the Volt would be built in Lordstown, OH alongside the next-generation Cobalt, since it's derived from the same Delta platform. The plant list shows the Volt and a Delta-based vehicle called MPV7 (seven-seat MPV?) being built in Detroit at the Hamtramck plant after the Cadillac DTS is discontinued. It also lists 2010 as Volt's start date. Lordstown, meanwhile, is slated to get a Gamma plaform car in 2010 and an Alpha in 2011. Gamma is a small car platform that should be the basis for the next generation Opel Corsa, which is widely-expected to be offered in the US. Alpha is a compact RWD platform expected to spawn a smaller Cadillac below the CTS and possibly a replacement for the Pontiac G6. It looks 2009-2012 is going to be an extremely busy time for GM engineers with a ton of new product.
Thanks for the tip, Nadir!
[Source: Detroit Free Press, Automotive News - Sub. Req.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
James Donovan 10:18AM (9/29/2007)
Correct me if i'm wrong, but the Holden Torana Concept was a preview of the GM Zeta platform (Although shorter in overall length) and the VE Commodore, as far as I know.
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importjap 10:32AM (9/29/2007)
Hmm you might be right about that James.
Why Holden didn't build the Torana I have no idea, could have replaced the Vectra.
Anyway I'm pretty sure Autoblog posted "Alpha" speculation back in March
James Donovan 10:39AM (9/29/2007)
Apparently it was going to be way too expensive to turn into a production car, which is a shame really. It's quite a pretty looking car, and it would have been a great car to drive.
That said, if it was priced anything like the Vectra, they'd have a real problem trying to move units. No one seems wants to pay premium prices for a medium sized Australian RWD saloon. Even if it would be just as good, or even better than the respective BMW or Mercedes Benz.
Old stupid farts and posers need a badge to pose in, I suppose.
icetraxx 10:24AM (9/29/2007)
If they are going to build the Gamma at lordstown in 2010, where is the next generation Cobalt (delta) going to be built? Next to the HHR in Mexico?
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far jr 12:04PM (9/29/2007)
I'm surprised that a platform as small as Gamma (think chevy Aveo here) can be built in Lordstown and still be profitable. The contract must have done wonders for GM's price structure.
That One Person 1:03PM (9/29/2007)
"It had been thought that the Volt would be built in Lordstown, OH alongside the next-generation Cobalt, since it's derived from the same Delta platform. The plant list shows the Volt and a Delta-based vehicle called MPV7 (seven-seat MPV?) being built in Detroit at the Hamtramck plant after the Cadillac DTS is discontinued."
Maybe the Cobalt will be built in Detroit. But I have a feeling Mexico is the most obvious destination. Or the Cobalt continues to be built in OH along side the Gamma based vehicle. It can be done. The Mazda6 and Mustang are built in the same plant...
Barney 11:23AM (9/29/2007)
Less then three years to start production. The promotional should be coming public soon. Hybrids may be the fad today but not tomorrow. It's up to GM to kep public interest alive. Hopefully the risk is worth it.
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cowboy bob 11:34AM (9/29/2007)
Well Barn, I hope you are correct as to the future of hybrids. They did not, have not, and will not be the economic/green solution, at least not in any form we see in current production. The cost/savings ratio for these vehicles is rediculous. Any person with a calculator can see it. I will say that plug-ins with extended range/quick charge should be a better solution. The technology is comming, and so is the reckoning with oil producing nations. I can't wait.
Barney 11:45AM (9/29/2007)
I'm not to sure that "plug-ins" is the answer either. The USA has not the capacity to meet electrical needs today. This is putting the cart before the horse. Clean power is rare and transferring polution to another location isn't good reasoning. Presently there are many EV makers who are struggling to stay alive.
georgejetson 12:36PM (9/29/2007)
Gotta love the UAW. I hear the powers-that-be at GM are pretty upset about the release of all this info. I wonder if the union will give Ford and Chrysler the same treatment when the time comes.
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summazooma 1:08PM (9/29/2007)
Cowboy Bob,
Current Hybrid EVs are a transitional technology playing a key role on the road towards such things as Fuel Cell vehicles (themselves a hybrid, in which the fuel cell generates electricity captured in batteries before being sent to power motors). They play a key role in maturing the technologies (controllers, batteries and motors), bringing up economies of scale (make emerging technologies more financially feasible) and prepare the marketplace for the most disruptive technologies that the auto industry has seen the very early 20th Century.
Though I criticize the current Gasoline-Electic Hybrid vehicles, myself, I know that this criticism is required to improve the breed and "move the stone" and, in no way, feel that these current attempts are a mistake.
Take care, man
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summazooma 1:09PM (9/29/2007)
No, the Torana is smaller than the Catherine Zeta-Jones. Torana is a historically significant nameplate for Holden, as a smaller (mid-size) car under the large Commodore.
It's true, however, that it gave a pretty good preview of the new Zeta-platform Commodore but it's smaller.
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DJ 10:22PM (9/29/2007)
The real bottom line to all of this is that GM's "let's build it and keeping building it for ten or twenty years" has definitely been replaced by a more Toyota/Honda mindset that says increased sales are the result of new and ever changing product lines. It can also be called "Lutz-think".
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Whitie 10:06AM (9/30/2007)
Anybody else believe it was stupid for GM to use assembly plant assignments as a bargaining chip? Sure, it plays well to the UAW "brotherhood and sisterhood", but if GM is to survive, the company must stay "lean and mean". Plant closings have been a way of life for the US auto industry. What concerns me most is that essentially GM has opened up their assembly / model strategy for the approval of the "brotherhood and sisterhood". Future GM-labor contracts will be similarly poisoned.
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B 12:41AM (10/01/2007)
whitie-
i tend to agree with what you're saying. as most of us read during the strike postings, a lot of us would have played real hardball with the UAW. However, i'm not about to pretend I know more than the guys at GM know. I'm hoping they got the cost structure where they need it, maybe a little extra, and I'm glad jobs will be staying in the US, even if it means the UAW is still around.
Anyway, I like this move to put VOLT in Detroit/Hamtramck. That plant has been under utilized for years, and is one of the new facilities for GM (I believe about 20 years old). But I also like it for another reason: This car is likely to be a game changer. Something (hopefully) we will talk about far into the future as cars "pre-volt" and "post volt". And to me, General Motors is as American as car companies get. Detroit is (though diminished) the world's automotive capital. And the City of Detroit put the world on wheels. By GM putting this new car in the city that put the world on wheels, in its hometown, I think makes a statement that GM is not going away, Detroit is not going away, and the city so often beaten, battered, slammed, cursed, and left for dead that gave us the Model T and wheels for the masses will be the same city that forever changes the automotive world, again.
Maybe I'm totally wrong, and I'm sure there's lots of $ signs behind the scenes. But I can't help but wonder if this is GM doing what they need to do while also making a clear bold statement that they, and the City of Detroit, are not going away, but will rather thrive.
This is an emotional win for anyone at GM (please please please do this, do it right, and show the world we can still compete), the UAW, and the City of Detroit.
But I'm still dumbfounded they gave out these plans. maybe not so much the plants that will or won't close, but that they've basically told every other car company their outline of future product plans.....though it wouldn't surprise me in the least if these companies spy-hard on each other.
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WillDaThrill 7:30PM (10/01/2007)
Holden makes great looking cars. GET WITH IT GM!
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