GM To Close Ohio SUV Plant in December

DETROIT — General Motors told employees at its Moraine SUV plant in Ohio on Friday that the facility will close in late December, two years earlier than planned. GM Chairman Rick Wagoner had said in June that the automaker would close the facility in 2010.

The Moraine plant builds the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, the GMC Envoy and the Saab 9-7X. Two other models, the Buick Rainier and the Isuzu Ascender, were discontinued earlier because of poor sales.

Through the first nine months of the year, TrailBlazer sales were down 37 percent; Envoy, down 44 percent, and 9-7X, down 30 percent. Saab dealers in September sold only 308 units of the 9-7X, GM said.

GM executives had blamed the prolonged slowdown in sales of its midsize SUVs on "market conditions." In fact, the TrailBlazer and Envoy were introduced in early 2001 and had never been fully redesigned.

The 9-7X was launched in spring 2005 as a stopgap product and had been given an extended lease on life, pending the arrival of the new 9-4X crossover vehicle.

The Envoy will be replaced by a companion to the 9-4X called GMC Terrain, slotted below the Lambda-based Acadia, while the TrailBlazer's slot will be filled in part by the next-generation Equinox and the new Traverse.

What this means to you: Look for Detroit to continue phasing out its aging body-on-frame SUVs as it ushers in even more crossovers in a variety of sizes and shapes. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent