UAW, GM Lordstown confident of building new car

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8403344

LORDSTOWN, Ohio -- The head of the union representing workers at General Motors' Lordstown assembly plant said Friday that he's confident they'll be building a new, fuel-efficient car after 2009 if a recently negotiated local contract is ratified.

Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112, would not give details about the new vehicle, except that he believes it will keep the plant busy for years to come because of all-time high fuel prices.

"From every indication this new product is going to get close to 40 to 41 miles to the gallon," Graham said during a news conference in a back room at the union hall. "We're very excited. ... You come up with a new product that gets 40 miles to the gallon and you'll have longevity. The car's going to sell."

GM spokesman Chris Lee, in Pontiac, Mich., on Friday said the company will not speculate about what new car production might go into Lordstown.

GM's chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner, and his top managers are planning several staffing changes to deal with the high gasoline price and the rapid market shift from trucks and sport utility vehicles to small cars and crossover vehicles.

GM Lordstown expects it will stop making the Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 in 2009, leaving workers wondering about their future, as gas prices approach $4 a gallon. A Cobalt XFE sedan gets 25 miles a gallon in city driving and 36 miles a gallon on the highway. It is GM's highest gas mileage car.

FULL story at link.