GM News: GM's Detroit-Hamtramck Given Temporary Reprieve

[Drew Dowdell]

The Buick LaCrosse and Chevrolet Volt have entered that great used car lot in the sky as of February 15th according to a GM announcement.  The Cadillac CT6 and Chevrolet Impala were originally scheduled to end production in June of 2019 but have now had their production schedules extended until January 2020. GM states that the reason for the extension is to allow for continued availability of the CT6-V, Blackwing Twin-Turbo V8, and Super Cruise. The Cadillac CT6 is also built in Jinqiao, China.

GM had announced the closure of 5 plants back in November, including Hamtramck.  Lordstown Ohio will be the first plant to be unallocated with production stopping March 1st.  GM has stated that this restructuring would boost company cash flow by $6B by the end of 2020. 

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[G. David Felt]

Good News, hopefully they will find use on the BEV3 platform to keep the plant going even longer.

[smk4565]

Makes sense, they can probably build enough 2020 model year CT6 in the fall to last them all of calendar 2020.  Impala probably has enough volume and enough fleet buyers that likewise they can build enough to last calendar 2020 before they run out.  Then it staggers the sedan deaths over a couple years rather than all at once.

[Drew Dowdell]

  On 2/22/2019 at 5:28 PM, dfelt said:

Good News, hopefully they will find use on the BEV3 platform to keep the plant going even longer.

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There's that, but there's also the VSS platform coming for the next generation CT6.  VSS is supposed to be capable of a much wider range of vehicles than Alpha and Omega are. 

  On 2/22/2019 at 5:32 PM, smk4565 said:

Makes sense, they can probably build enough 2020 model year CT6 in the fall to last them all of calendar 2020.  Impala probably has enough volume and enough fleet buyers that likewise they can build enough to last calendar 2020 before they run out.  Then it staggers the sedan deaths over a couple years rather than all at once.

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as mentioned above, there is also a new platform coming. Maybe this buys them time until that gets released. 

[Robert Hall]

CT4 and CT5 will be on that new platform?  Those are due in the next year or so?  It seems like there have been prototype sightings of them for a while...

[Drew Dowdell]

  On 2/22/2019 at 5:50 PM, Robert Hall said:

CT4 and CT5 will be on that new platform?  Those are due in the next year or so?  It seems like there have been prototype sightings of them for a while...

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To be honest, I don't know.  I would guess probably not. They'll probably both be on the last iteration of Alpha. 

[Robert Hall]

  On 2/22/2019 at 6:06 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

To be honest, I don't know.  I would guess probably not. They'll probably both be on the last iteration of Alpha. 

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I kind of figured that, since it sounded like VSS is further out..

[smk4565]

VW builds the A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, Q5, Q7, Q8, Macan, Cayenne, Bentayga and Urus off one platform I think.  That is some ridiculous scalability right there. 

[Robert Hall]

  On 2/22/2019 at 6:31 PM, smk4565 said:

VW builds the A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, Q5, Q7, Q8, Macan, Cayenne, Bentayga and Urus off one platform I think.  That is some ridiculous scalability right there. 

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MLB and MLBEvo... pretty versatile component set..and they have MQB for the smaller vehicles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Group_MLB_platform

[Drew Dowdell]

  On 2/22/2019 at 6:31 PM, smk4565 said:

VW builds the A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, Q5, Q7, Q8, Macan, Cayenne, Bentayga and Urus off one platform I think.  That is some ridiculous scalability right there. 

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Right.. it's the old Chrysler K-Car idea.  They built a full range of sedans, coupes, convertibles, trucklets, and mini-vans off the same component set. 

  On 2/22/2019 at 6:33 PM, Robert Hall said:

MLB and MLBEvo... pretty versatile component set..and they have MQB for the smaller vehicles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Group_MLB_platform

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MQB goes all the way up to Atlas and Passat.  It's not about size, it's about engine orientation. 

[Robert Hall]

  On 2/22/2019 at 6:59 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

Right.. it's the old Chrysler K-Car idea.  They built a full range of sedans, coupes, convertibles, trucklets, and mini-vans off the same component set. 

MQB goes all the way up to Atlas and Passat.  It's not about size, it's about engine orientation. 

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Right...MLB are for north-south orientation, MQB for transverse engine.  Makes sense.   

[G. David Felt]

  On 2/22/2019 at 6:06 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

To be honest, I don't know.  I would guess probably not. They'll probably both be on the last iteration of Alpha. 

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So maybe the CT6 and CT8 on VSS with CT5 & 4 on Alpha till the 6 & 8 are up to speed and then refresh 4 & 5 to VSS?

[Drew Dowdell]

Yes, but I wish we could go back to names

[G. David Felt]

  On 2/22/2019 at 8:46 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

Yes, but I wish we could go back to names

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I totally agree, but with the marketing invested in CT, maybe keep ICE on alpha numeric and with the new EV product line go all names again. That I think would be the best for Cadillac moving forward.

[Drew Dowdell]

  On 2/22/2019 at 8:57 PM, dfelt said:

I totally agree, but with the marketing invested in CT, maybe keep ICE on alpha numeric and with the new EV product line go all names again. That I think would be the best for Cadillac moving forward.

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It's not too late to turn back on the ICE cars.

[riviera74]

RIP Buick LaCrosse (2005-19) and Chevrolet Volt (2011-19) and Chevrolet Impala (1957-96; 2000-19).

Long live the CT6 (I hope I can buy one someday.  Either that or a high-end XT5).

[daves87rs]

Given how often D-Ham fuks up, I would rather seen it be Lordstown....

Still blows my mind how the Equinox can’t move there and save one plant-and just build something else in Mexico......

I’ve thought for quite a few years now that the plants should have switched......

[Suaviloquent]

[Drew Dowdell]

  On 2/23/2019 at 4:49 AM, daves87rs said:

Given how often D-Ham fuks up, I would rather seen it be Lordstown....

Still blows my mind how the Equinox can’t move there and save one plant-and just build something else in Mexico......

I’ve thought for quite a few years now that the plants should have switched......

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What do you mean... quality issues?

[balthazar]

  On 2/22/2019 at 6:59 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

Right.. it's the old Chrysler K-Car idea.  They built a full range of sedans, coupes, convertibles, trucklets, and mini-vans off the same component set.

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Here comes the 800 lb Ironic Gorilla :: this is exactly what a lot of the domestics were HEAVILY derided for doing- same platforms under many models/brands. Now that most of the rest of the world has caught on, it's 'great, efficient job, guys, makes total economic sense! Why are the domestics always behind??' Such lame bullshit.

[Drew Dowdell]

  On 2/25/2019 at 6:54 PM, balthazar said:

Here comes the 800 lb Ironic Gorilla :: this is exactly what a lot of the domestics were HEAVILY derided for doing- same platforms under many models/brands. Now that most of the rest of the world has caught on, it's 'great, efficient job, guys, makes total economic sense! Why are the domestics always behind??' Such lame bullshit.

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The problem back then was that the domestics didn't hide the platforms that much. A Cavalier was too close to a Skyhawk was too close to a Cimarron.  Chrysler probably did the best job with differentiation on the K-Car. 

But you're right... it was not a foreign idea to build modular platforms like this. 

[daves87rs]

  On 2/25/2019 at 5:01 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

What do you mean... quality issues?

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With the cars, not so much. People like my dad (now retired)made sure those cars got out the way they were supposed to.

But I could spend hours with stories on just how bad some of those line workers screwed things up! Like no other plant that I have seen........

[Potluck]

I thought gm was going to electrify everything? why did the volt die?

[G. David Felt]

  On 2/27/2019 at 6:37 PM, Potluck said:

I thought gm was going to electrify everything? why did the volt die?

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Had an ICE component, they are moving to go all EV. ICE to sell till the EV family is out. Then sell both as the market switches over and then retire ICE.

[balthazar]

^ [50 year timeline, minimum]