Oshawa plant closing??

[454lsxss]

"After days of protest and blockades, the CAW has finally accepted the fate of its doomed Oshawa, Ontario truck plant. Just weeks after General Motors inked a deal with the CAW pledging to keep the Oshawa plant open until 2011, GM announced that it would be shuttering the plant in 2009, sparking a blockade that lasted 12 days."

I read this on leftlanenews...does anyone know if this is just the truck factory or the whole plant??
link here

[Muscle Master]

so what does this mean?, no more Hummers, fewer Tahoes and other

[wildpaws]

It's the Oshawa truck plant that's closing, the auto production lines are not closing at this time.
Clyde

[Beyond Limits]

I believe they make Silverados in that facility. I am pretty sure Hummers were made down in Indiana.

[fastball]

This will not have any affect on our beloved Camaros. The Oshawa Camaro line is a go.

I do feel for those loosing their jobs due to the truck line closing, but it's just a sign of the times. No one in their right mind would buy a truck right now unless they absolutely need one for work or specific duties.

[Mr. Wyndham]

The Camaro is fine. And so is the other Zeta-based car meant to join it down the line.
There's a third car that they want to put in there...but so far it's just talk.

Here's a bit I "liked" (nothing about this whole debacle is/was pleasant):

“Are we accepting it? Eventually, if someone keeps hitting you over the head with a sledgehammer, you’re going to wake up,” Buzz Hargrove told Automotive News.

So... "wake up".
Is he admitting that he was wrong; and that they finally realize the severity of the situation (despite GM's rather slippery move)?

[fastball]

Originally Posted by Dragoneye

The Camaro is fine. And so is the other Zeta meant to join it down the line.
There's a third car that they want to put in there...but so far it's just talk.

Here's a bit I "liked" (nothing about this whole debacle is/was pleasant):


So... "wake up". Is he admitting they were wrong -- and they finally realize the severity of the situation (despite GM's rather slippery move)?

You have to admire the union's determination to save jobs, but a situation like this was inevitable. Should GM have known about it and not led the union on to think they were safe? Yes. But unions tend to prevent car makers from being flexible and thus curb the company's ability to alter business plans to fit the financial climate. All solid, financially sound companies in the world make alterations to their business models to fit the flow of business. It's economics 102. They make cuts to certain segments when business is down, and they expand when business is up.

They'd be crazy to keep pushing out 17 MPG trucks when people who don't need them aren't buying them for obvious reasons.

[Captain Awesome]

Originally Posted by fastball

This will not have any affect on our beloved Camaros. The Oshawa Camaro line is a go.

I do feel for those loosing their jobs due to the truck line closing, but it's just a sign of the times. No one in their right mind would buy a truck right now unless they absolutely need one for work or specific duties.

Yup. And nobody in their right mind would buy a V8 musclecar right now unless they need one for work or specific duties?

[fbodfather]

NO ONE wants to see the Oshawa Truck plant -- or any other plant for that matter -- close.

However, take a quick look at what's happened to the new car/truck market in the past 9 months -- esp. in the past 6 when gas has gone thru the ceiling -- and the sad truth is that something's gotta give.

Unless people start buying Ford/GM/Chrysler cars and trucks in volume once again, this will continue to happen.

It's likely that Toyota will surpass GM as the number one manufacturer here in the United States before long............

..........to me, that's a sad statement.

[Captain Awesome]

Toyota? Number one maybe in sales volume, but certainly not in APPEALING vehicles.

[fastball]

Originally Posted by Captain Awesome

Yup. And nobody in their right mind would buy a V8 musclecar right now unless they need one for work or specific duties?

Even the V8 Camaro should get close to 30 mpg on the highway.

You think a Silverado can do that?


Scott, here's something I think GM still needs to work on - their image. I know they make cars competitive to Honda and Toyota in fuel economy, but they don't cary the image of "green" that Japan does. True or not, right now it's the general public's perception. Now, you cannot dissagree that in the 1990's GM was going up the wazzoo on SUVs, while Honda and Toyota continued to develop economy cars and now the high technology hybrids. GM, unfortunately, is playing catchup in that department. Everyone laughed at first the Honda Insight and then the Toyota Prius, but looks who's laughing now. I know hindsight is 20/20 and you can't go back and fix mistakes, but I think GM is hurting mainly because they chose to go with big, fat, BOF SUVs for the longest time. In a way, you can't blame them because that's where the cash was, and we all know how much cash the SUV craze generated.

I'm not saying Toyota is any less guilty of making land barges, but at the same time they were also investing in great, economical, small cars. GM to date has had only the Cavalier/Cobalt and Aveo. Not very much competiton to Corollas, Civics, and hybrids.

I really hope this Volt works. GM's future is at stake here. I think GM will sink or swim on the deck of the Volt. If it proves to provide 60-100 mpg in the real world, and the batteries last, and the car is reliable, it will knock Toyota and Honda off their butts.

But, it's still a gamble right now, so they better get it right.

[Captain Awesome]

Actually, Toyota has spent the better part of the last decade trying to steal the "big truck / big SUV" market from GM...

[Mr. Wyndham]

Originally Posted by Captain Awesome

Toyota? Number one maybe in sales volume, but certainly not in APPEALING vehicles.

Originally Posted by Captain Awesome

Actually, Toyota has spent the better part of the last decade trying to steal the "big truck / big SUV" market from GM...

yeah...but go figure, who's getting all the bad press?

[unkbd]

Originally Posted by Beyond Limits

I believe they make Silverados in that facility. I am pretty sure Hummers were made down in Indiana.

The H3 is actually made in Shreveport, LA. My heart and prayers go out to all those losing their jobs.