- GM will restart vehicle assembly at the former Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
- The plant will produce the Chevrolet Equinox beginning in the second half of 2012.
SPRING HILL, Tennessee — General Motors will restart vehicle assembly next year at its Spring Hill, Tennessee, plant to build its hot-selling Chevrolet Equinox crossover, freeing up room at its Oshawa, Ontario, plant to build more of its equally quick-selling GMC Terrain.
Sales of both crossovers long have outstripped supply. Equinox sales are up 23 percent for the year to date (October 31) compared with the same period in 2010; Terrain sales are up 21 percent. Edmunds.com calculates the days-to-turn — the number of days from the vehicle being delivered to the dealership to being purchased by a consumer — is a meager 20 days for the Equinox and 24 days for the Terrain.
Tennessee production of the Equinox begins in the second half of 2012. The reopening of Spring Hill's vehicle assembly operations, mothballed in 2009 during GM's bankruptcy, represents a $61-million investment by GM and will create 685 jobs. In addition to Equinox production, GM reiterated Monday that a midsize model, details of which were not revealed, will go into the Spring Hill plant as a 2015 model. This second phase of Spring Hill's revival will represent a $183-million investment by GM and create another 1,200 jobs.
A large proportion of the Spring Hill jobs will be new hires paid the lower Tier 2 wage allowed under the 2011 UAW-GM labor contract.
Inside Line says: Added production means more Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain models for consumers.
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tbone85 says:
09:54 AM, 11/28/2011
Nothing better than tribalist tripe trying to politicize every issue. Instead of being happy about more jobs, the REAL news is that it's good or bad politics for someone. Whatever.
hondochuck says:
10:02 PM, 11/25/2011
How about this! GM going back to a 'Right to work' state after this idiot President allows HIS NLRB to sue Boeing for doing the same thing in South Carolina!
Will the Tennesee workers be allowed to 'opt out' of paying the excessive union dues to the Democratic Party with these new 685 jobs!
zr1man says:
09:22 PM, 11/21/2011
Great news! Way to go GM, for adding 685 new jobs now and another 1200 in a few years, for a total of 1,865 new American jobs. This will help our economy get stronger. This is the kind of news our country needs and that we like to hear.
Remember, before you go out and by some foreign car, buying vehicles made in the good old USA will strengthen our economy. This also proves that we build some really great vehicles here. Just look at how fast they are selling.
Economists have calculated, that if we as a nation, reduced our spending just ten percent on foreign made products in favor of American made, the unemployment rate here at home would be less than five percent! Millions more of our citizens and their families could live a decent productive life. What's more, with the increased tax revenue from more working people, the government could balance the budget without rasing taxes. By 2018 we could pay off the national debt and insure the health of Social Security and Medicare indefinitely. All this from keeping the money here at home and buying products made in the good old US of A.
So let's hear it for GM. Sure they stumbled, but the General is back on his feet, charging the way for a strong America.
God Bless America
openeyes1 says:
03:24 PM, 11/21/2011
Now if GM can get their act together, and offer these nearly 2-ton SUV's a Diesel engine, that would be
help their overall mileage figures.
mind_ride says:
01:37 PM, 11/21/2011
Interesting that they're building the same car at two different plants.
Anyone else notice the jumbled Eddie Bauer sign in the pic? Makes you wonder what else is Photoshopped.
exinobel102 says:
01:28 PM, 11/21/2011
Inside Line says: Added production means more Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain models for consumers.
How about Inside line says: Added production means more US Jobs.