Preproduction Volts roll off line at GM Hamtramck plant

[n2doc]

BY TIM HIGGINS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Detroit's next big tour stop may very well end up being the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant where the Chevrolet Volt is being built.

GM officials said they're already preparing for huge interest -- from school groups to industry leaders -- wanting to visit the plant once official production of the extended-range electric car begins in November.

"I'm expecting that we will have all different kinds of visits," plant manager Teri Quigley told the Free Press in an interview this week.

"I think it will be five times as many people as normal at the onset," she said.

Preproduction of the Volt began last week at the plant, which saddles the Detroit and Hamtramck border. Three Volt cars were built last week, and GM expects to build fewer than 500 preproduction versions from now and until official production begins.

Already, the daily list of non-factory workers requesting access to the plant exceeds the factory's 1,100-person workforce, Quigley said.
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http://freep.com/article/20100408/BUSINESS01/4080442/1319/GM-Volts-rolling-off-line

[Canuckistanian]

1. What's a "preproduction" car?

Is it a prototype? A demonstration unit? A "proof of concept"?

[tammywammy]

2. Description

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-production_car

[Statistical]

3. Also I would add that GM has had preproduction vehicles for a year now.

They were all custom built.

This is the first pre-production vechicle built on the final assembly line.

Pretty much last step before trial production run and then full scale production.

[DainBramaged]

8. It is not just for problem finding

checking tooling, timing assembly, fine-tuning line speeds, validating sub-contractor parts, and many times these are the vehicles given to executives to 'road test' for a couple of months to make sure the controls are valid. I am positive their serial numbers end in xxx.

[Tesha]

4. "Pre-production" usually means that...

...it's later than the hand-built prototypes, built using essentially
the same materials and processes that you hope to eventually use
on your full-scale production line.

If you will, it's product that "prototypes" the production line.

Tesha

[Canuckistanian]

9. Thanks

That's what I wanted to know.

[AwakeAtLast]

6. When I worked for a GM parts supplier they called it the "Pilot" stage

After Prototype, before production - the very first cars to come off the assembly line.

[AwakeAtLast]

5. Delete, wrong place

Sorry! :blush:

[madokie]

7. I think this Volt setup will be the way autos are built in the future

an electric motor powering the wheels with a battery pack for short trips and a constant speed motor to keep the batteries charged and extend the distance