Chevrolet News:Chevy Removing Blazer Display After Backlash

[Drew Dowdell]

In some ways, old-school General Motors is still around.  This time it is over the tone-deafness of placing a Mexican built product on display at Comerica Park in Detroit just months after announcing the shutdown of GM two plants in Michigan. 

GM said in a statement that it picked the Blazer, along with the Silverado, for display because the vehicle is brand new and the Blazer is an iconic American nameplate.  However, people are upset with GM for the pick of a Mexican built vehicle when two plants in Michigan,  Warren and Detroit-Hamtramck will be closing and thousands of jobs will be lost.

Now, just days after being installed over centerfield at the park, GM is quietly swapping the Blazer out with a new Chevrolet Traverse at the park fountain. GM said they wanted fans to enjoy baseball without the distraction and further added that the Blazer will add $500 million a year to the U.S. manufacturing economy. 

GM recently announced a $300 million upgrade to the Orion Assembly plant and the addition of a new Chevrolet EV just says after Trump criticized General Motors and Mary Barra for closing the Lordstown Ohio plant. 

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[smk4565]

Well not a lot is made in the USA.  Chevy is no more American than Honda or Toyota at this point.  

If Michigan is unhappy about GM closing factories they should look for other things to manufacture.  Build solar panels or windmills in those old factories. 

[riviera74]

1 hour ago, smk4565 said:

Well not a lot is made in the USA.  Chevy is no more American than Honda or Toyota at this point.  

If Michigan is unhappy about GM closing factories they should look for other things to manufacture.  Build solar panels or windmills in those old factories. 

Ohio needs to do the same.

[regfootball]

I do agree, a bit of tone deafness on GM's part here, however, Michigan does need to eventually 'get' the global marketplace and quite honestly they are damn lucky GM is still in business, and still has HQ in Michigan.  Michigan is not owed factories nor is Ohio by any birthright.  It's cutthroat out there, 'foreign' manufacturers have all sorts of plants in many other places in the US and still manage to increase sales and market share and pay those US workers.  Move to where those plants are if you want to work in an auto plant.  Keep in mind all these plant closures are the first shot over the bow in union negotiation and studying the possibility of moving more production overseas.  I am sure GM has it mapped out for the future to bring many more vehicles from China.  Mary's GM needs to get a ducking clue, a lot of people want to buy GM because (in the past) a lot of stuff was made here and they want to buy American assembled.  There is no good reason vehicles like the Blazer and Silverado should be made in Mexico.  Cruze, sure.  

Edited March 30, 2019 by regfootball

[smk4565]

The Camry is the most American ca you can buy I think.  

I don't think people care where anything is made for the most part, they buy the product they like.  People buy phones and TV and computers made in China and they don't care.  There wear clothes from the Philippines and Vietnam, and they don't care really care where stuff comes from, they care about quality of the product and price.  

If GM sold an American made Silverado for $35,000 and the exact same spec truck with the same quality as a Chinese made Silverado for  $30,000, 99% of the people would pay less to have the Chinese one and they wouldn't shed one tear when the American factory shut down.   That is the the cold truth of how it is.

[riviera74]

4 hours ago, regfootball said:

I do agree, a bit of tone deafness on GM's part here, however, Michigan does need to eventually 'get' the global marketplace and quite honestly they are damn lucky GM is still in business, and still has HQ in Michigan.  Michigan is not owed factories nor is Ohio by any birthright.  It's cutthroat out there, 'foreign' manufacturers have all sorts of plants in many other places in the US and still manage to increase sales and market share and pay those US workers.  Move to where those plants are if you want to work in an auto plant.  Keep in mind all these plant closures are the first shot over the bow in union negotiation and studying the possibility of moving more production overseas.  I am sure GM has it mapped out for the future to bring many more vehicles from China.  Mary's GM needs to get a ducking clue, a lot of people want to buy GM because (in the past) a lot of stuff was made here and they want to buy American assembled.  There is no good reason vehicles like the Blazer and Silverado should be made in Mexico.  Cruze, sure.  

In the pursuit of profit, GM will do whatever it takes to maximize profits, regardless of sentiment in the Midwest or elsewhere in this republic.

[daves87rs]

Kindly put, Michigan is turning into the shiittehole nobody wants anyway....and they have yet to make Detroit anything better.....

The UAW is in for a surprise this time....they no longer get to choose the terms. Ford steps up first, and will have a few surprises up their sleeves. GM could easlily move more production to Mexico...as could FCA. And none of the 3 are worried about pissing Trump off either. Should be an interesting summer...

 

As far as the Blazer is concerned, and going to dud a bit until GM gets a clue about pricing. With the economy slumping and Wall Street grabbing oil barrels by the balls, GM just might regret cutting the Cruze out.....

[regfootball]

I think part of ditching the Cruze is, I bet the next trax will sell in way higher volumes and be imported 

[riviera74]

6 minutes ago, regfootball said:

I think part of ditching the Cruze is, I bet the next trax will sell in way higher volumes and be imported 

Following the money, it would be no surprise if the Trax effectively replaced the Cruze.  One question: which CUV replaces the Chevy Sonic?

[ocnblu]

1 hour ago, riviera74 said:

Following the money, it would be no surprise if the Trax effectively replaced the Cruze.  One question: which CUV replaces the Chevy Sonic?

Well the current Trax and Sonic are on the same platform.  I don't see the Trax going lower in price for the next round... it is already $31k fully loaded, and starts at about $19k before GM's ubiquitous incentives.  They will need something cheaper than Trax at the entry level... Spark Activ seems like a non-starter so far though, at around $17.8k to start (have not seen ONE on the road here, anecdotally).  Anything electric will be uber expensive and far above what they have out now.  Entry level buyers are SOL and are being steered toward the used car market, which turns the entry level market into a free-for-all, because used car buyers are less picky about brand than new car buyers (stands to reason).  And GM is not alone in this heinous development.

[regfootball]

3 hours ago, riviera74 said:

Following the money, it would be no surprise if the Trax effectively replaced the Cruze.  One question: which CUV replaces the Chevy Sonic?

Few are longing for the Sonic to be replaced, although I get the gist of your question.......

I don't think the Sonic is officially dead yet, either?

1 hour ago, ocnblu said:

Well the current Trax and Sonic are on the same platform.  I don't see the Trax going lower in price for the next round... it is already $31k fully loaded, and starts at about $19k before GM's ubiquitous incentives.  They will need something cheaper than Trax at the entry level... Spark Activ seems like a non-starter so far though, at around $17.8k to start (have not seen ONE on the road here, anecdotally).  Anything electric will be uber expensive and far above what they have out now.  Entry level buyers are SOL and are being steered toward the used car market, which turns the entry level market into a free-for-all, because used car buyers are less picky about brand than new car buyers (stands to reason).  And GM is not alone in this heinous development.

No possible way to sell something smaller than the current Trax and have it be appealing as a volume model.

[ocnblu]

That one kid, Hyundai, is doing it with the Venue.

[smk4565]

7 hours ago, riviera74 said:

Following the money, it would be no surprise if the Trax effectively replaced the Cruze.  One question: which CUV replaces the Chevy Sonic?

A new SUV called the SubTraxx.  

 

[ccap41]

Another example of why people are annoying.