GM closing 4 truck and SUV plants, may discontinue the Hummer

[marmar]

May discontinue the Hummer? Note to GM: Get that gas-guzzling, phallically sad monstrosity off the streets.
:wtf:



AP, via AOL:



GM closing 4 truck and SUV plants in North America
By TOM KRISHER,AP
Posted: 2008-06-03 08:46:22



WILMINGTON, DEL. (AP) - General Motors is closing four truck and SUV plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico as surging fuel prices hasten a dramatic shift to smaller vehicles.

CEO Rick Wagoner said Tuesday before the automaker's annual meeting in Delaware the plants to be closed are in Oshawa, Ontario; Moraine, Ohio; Janesville, Wis.; and Toluca, Mexico. He also said the Hummer brand may be discontinued.

He also said the iconic Hummer brand may be discontinued.

Wagoner said the GM board has approved production of a new small Chevrolet car at a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, in mid-2010 and the Chevy Volt electric vehicle in Detroit.

Wagoner announced the moves in response to slumping sales of pickups and SUVs brought on by high oil prices. He says a market shift to smaller vehicles is permanent.

The cuts will affect about 2,500 workers at each of the four facilities, although Wagoner did not know exact numbers. Many will be able to take openings created when 19,000 more U.S. hourly workers leave later this year through early retirement and buyout offers.

He said the company has no plans to allocate products to the four plants in the future.

The moves will save the company $1 billion per year starting in 2010. Combined with previous efforts, GM will have cut costs by $15 billion a year, Wagoner said.

Wagoner said GM's board approved the production schedule of the Chevrolet Volt, and the company plans to bring the plug-in electric car to showrooms by the end of 2010. The Volt runs on an electric motor and has a small engine to recharge its batteries.

He said the change in the U.S. market to smaller vehicles likely is permanent.

"We at GM don't think this is a spike or a temporary shift," Wagoner said.


http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/gm-closing-4-truck-and-suv-plants-in/n20080603084609990015

[MikeNearMcChord]

1. They should keep one and make it a monument

of stupidity and greed, also put in a small mannequin in the driver's seat, with it's head barely over the steering wheel to make it even more absurd.

[devilgrrl]

2. Oh no! Not the HUMMER - I was going to convert it to bio-diesel!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3377360&mesg_id=3377723

:sarcasm:

[Botany]

3. The Hummer; what everybody needed

A 7 mile per gallon vehicle that was made for the military.

[AlCzervik]

4. Hummers, if you want to drive one then join the army.

[Diclotican]

5. marmar

marmar

Why don't try to build car that folks would have?.. This big SUVs trucks and the Hummer are for the few.. What the american auto makers have been for the last 30 year is to build car that no one else than americans, and they who do have the money regardless of how money it cost to operate it anyway wanted... The rest of the world, specially when the prize of petrol was going up (and it started in the 1970s -1980s in other parts of the world) are going away from the big expensive fuel intensive trucks and SUVs, and more over to the smaller, and much more fuel effective...

When GM, and all the other american car manufactures could do the trick, build car that the rest of the world would have, then maybe, just maybe GM Ford, Chrysler and the rest of the names could come back to fashion.. And get some money back..

Even Japanese SUV use less petrol by the liters, and gallons than the american counterparts.. And the SUV that the Japanese building are not that less than the american counterparts... But still less expensive both in driving and in getting in the first time around...

The US car manufactures have build ed many iconic cars, that is in the worlds memory for many, many year to come.. But US car manufactures are not living in the 1960s anymore.. Many country today build cars that in practice could run around their american counterparts in circles..

It is a reason GM and the other car manufactures are closing down their plants.. And one of the reason are that american cars have a bad rumor when it come to driving, when it come to milage... When you can get a Toyota, or a Mercedes to drive less than an american car, for the most part you would get a german or Japanese car instead of an american... Yes you have still this big V8 engines, that are rising my hair when I hear the sound.. But I have to say, given the choice between a GM or a Toyota (in the same category) I would choose the Toyota.. Because the mileage is better and because they cost less.... But again, that is just me..

If US are not staring to build car that the rest of the world outside the US are willing to get.. Then it would be the end of the american car industry.. US car manufactures cant trust that they can sell their trucks and SUV in the domestic economy either...

Diclotican

Sorry my bad english, not my native language

[ThatsMyBarack]

6. A loss for spoiled teenagers....

Who won't get to ride a Hummer limo to the prom. :nopity:

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

8. I actually dont mind the limo's so much..

About the only time in my life I rode in a limo was to my senior prom limos are not the driving factor in releasing co2 nor in gas prices... Let them have it one night (and BTW I worked allot of hours for that prom night limo so dont you dare call me spoiled) if they had a hummer limo when I was in HS I totally would have gotten one just for the fact they are, supposedly, much more comfortable than regular limos

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

7. This is what happens when you so narrow your brand

for immediate profit that you ignore any kind of diversity of product needed to handle a change in the market..

I really hope for the sake of auto workers GM gets its crap together this time..

[FloridaJudy]

9. What took them so frigging long?

I've always wanted a cheap, reliable, fuel-efficient, American-made vehicle. Up until now, there weren't any. Our scientists and engineers aren't any dumber than the Japanese, Germans or Koreans. Our cars should have been at least as good.