More work for Oshawa

[HeatherR]

Good news for Oshawa and GM!

Don't worry...This is not on the flex line with the Camaros, so it won't impact that


http://www.freep.com/article/2010032...lers-to-market

[FenwickHockey65]

Excellent...

[Hylton]

Yay!!!

[Xanthos]

Very nice.
- X

[PAUL SS]

That's an interesting solution.

[DGthe3]

Looks like GM severely underestimated demand for the Equinox/Terrain. Didn't they originally intend for 2 shifts at Ingersoll? Then added a 3rd. Then announced they were going to increase capacity. Now this? Its the best problem they could possibly have, but still all this has to be a lot more expensive than they would like.

[Angrybird 12]

Great news, and there was another article associated with that one saying GM could pay off all their Government loans (US and Canadian) By June 2010, 5 years ahead of schedule and a good chance they will even show a profit this year....

[MikesZ]

Sorry, but I would rather see Equinox production moved to the idled Springhill, TN plant so some of our fellow Americans can get some GM love...and add a Buick Endeavor (Equinox-based CUV) to the line as well. With 10% unemployment in the US right now, I'm really getting tired of seeing work going to Canada when our own citizens desperately need jobs.

[FenwickHockey65]

Originally Posted by MikesZ

Sorry, but I would rather see Equinox production moved to the idled Springhill, TN plant so some of our fellow Americans can get some GM love...and add a Buick Endeavor (Equinox-based CUV) to the line as well. With 10% unemployment in the US right now, I'm really getting tired of seeing work going to Canada when our own citizens desperately need jobs.

Buick has a smaller 5-passenger CUV to slot below Enclave in the works already. Probably Gamma-II based.

I'm sure it's no coincidence that Spring Hill is being idled, especially after Tennessee senator Bob Corker publicly denounced GM for building inferior products. At this point, Janesville Assembly is slated to re-open in case GM needs further production capacity.

[MikesZ]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

Buick has a smaller 5-passenger CUV to slot below Enclave in the works already. Probably Gamma-II based.

I'm sure it's no coincidence that Spring Hill is being idled, especially after Tennessee senator Bob Corker publicly denounced GM for building inferior products. At this point, Janesville Assembly is slated to re-open in case GM needs further production capacity.

No need to punish workers and their families because some idiot politician doesn't like GM cars. Besides, there is a very high probability that Corker won't be there past November.

[CamaroScotty]

A day late and a dollar short.

This should have been done MONTHS ago.....the demand "peak" is moving behind us now.

[CamaroScotty]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

At this point, Janesville Assembly is slated to re-open in case GM needs further production capacity.

This would be interesting - I was told last week that all the equipment was moved out and is rather bare inside...Janesville was a major distribution center for other cars and trucks, but that comes to an end as all chevys coming into Wisconsin will be farmed out to independant drivers as AAG loses 150 or so jobs. Many are retiring.

The independants have their own equipment - should be real interesting when dealing with any claims for in-transit damage. I was told one dealer had a claim denied with the new delivery service, because there was no way to track which hauler actually dropped the cars involved in the claim....

We lost a huge Tahoe / Suburban market here with many people loyal to GM's Janesville production facility. We never had any quality issues out of Janesville I was aware of. It will be an interesting next 12 months.

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by MikesZ

Sorry, but I would rather see Equinox production moved to the idled Springhill, TN plant so some of our fellow Americans can get some GM love...and add a Buick Endeavor (Equinox-based CUV) to the line as well. With 10% unemployment in the US right now, I'm really getting tired of seeing work going to Canada when our own citizens desperately need jobs.

Oshawa is about 2 hours away from the Ingersoll plant, Spring Hill Tennessee is over 12 hours away plus a border crossing. Oshawa is the closest GM assembly plant to Ingersoll and the Impala line is only running 2 shifts when it was set up to run 3. They are shipping complete bodies for paint and final assembly. They aren't setting up a complete production facility, they are utilizing capacity at a nearby plant. So even if it wouldn't break contracts with GM Canada, and void labour agreements with the CAW and Ontario government, it still wouldn't make sense to ship completed bodies to Tenessee to paint them and finish off the assembly.

We're not exactly swimming in jobs in Ontario. We're at about 9% unemployment right now (about double what it is for the rest of the provinces), largely because of the slack in the auto industry. In the city of Oshawa itself, the truck plant just got shut down last year, and thet was a loss of much more than the 700 this move is bringing back.