GM to cut second shift at GM-Moraine plant (GMT-360)

[TAMark]

And most of them use one of the sweetest engines GM makes, the I6. The engine that should have been optional in the Colorado/Canyon. GM needs to find some other uses for that engine.

[BuickBoy]

These SUVs have been bread and butter for GM for several years and for the life of me I can't see why GM is moving so fast to dump these. OK sales are down but so is every other vehicle. These still are mid-sized and not as "huge" as Tahoes/Suburbans. A simple refresh and tweak the engine and add a 6 speed to get a few more MPG and sales may have recovered. No they wont sell a million of them but given thier cost structure GM should have been able to make money on a much smaller sales volume. As I understand they sell well overseas. Not everyone is going to run to an HHR. Seems shortsided to me. But what do I know, I one of the few fans Buick has left!

[hunchman]

Originally Posted by BuickBoy

These SUVs have been bread and butter for GM for several years and for the life of me I don't see why GM is so fast to dump these. OK sales are down but so is every other vehicle. These still are mid-sized and not as "huge" as Tahoes/Suburbans. A simple refresh and tweak the engine and add a 6 speed to get a few more MPG and sales may have recovered. No they wont sell a million of them but given there cost structure GM should have been able to make money on a much smaller sales volume. As I understand they sell well overseas. Not everyone is going to run to an HHR. Seems shortsided to me. But what do I know, I one of the few fans Buick has left!

For the most part you are 100% correct. The ending of this product will only mean more market share loss for GM. Seems toyota had no problem redoing the 4runner and Honda is advertising their new "fuel eficient" pilot and Kia just released the new bof Borrego and I bet they all eat up the pieces of the market that GM gives up.

[baby-vortec2900]

Originally Posted by TAMark

And most of them use one of the sweetest engines GM makes, the I6. The engine that should have been optional in the Colorado/Canyon. GM needs to find some other uses for that engine.

Very true! The 4.2 I6 ranks right up there with the 4.3L V6 as far as some of the best engines that GM has made. Either of which should have somehow made it to the Colorado/Canyon. The fact that GM makes a midsize truck without a 6 cylinder option is beyond me. As I understand it, the Atlas engines are very expensive to produce. So even if you wanted to design a truck too small for the 4.2, why wouldn't you put the 4.3 in there? They did with the S10. While this would have sufficed, its not what I would have done. For the life of me I cannot understand why GM did not design the Colorado with a big enough bay to fit the 4.2 I6. They could have made it bigger and improved the capability and not suffer much consequense as the Colorado and Trailblazer do with a mpg or 2 or each other. As it is, GM has the smallest displacement of any loaded truck in the class, and is short a cylinder. So for the life of me I don't see why producing another costly atlas engine was superior to offering an update 4.3L S10 engine

[CadiEldo67]

I'm surprised that they used an entirely different platform for the Canyon/Colorado and the Envoy/Trailblazer. Had everything been built on the GMT-360 platform, the cost would have been spread, the 4.2 would have been moved around, and probably would have paid for itself by now. GM does it with the Yukon/Tahoe and the Sierra/Silverado, so why not with the smaller set? I'm thinking the GM should update the 360 platform, and built both a smaller pickup and suv, its not like nobody will ever buy one again. The market is just shrinking.

[Copcarz]

I work at the Moraine plant. It's a shame they didn't do relatively simple things like adding direct injection, a 6-speed tranny, aluminum hood/roof/liftgate, a more aerodynamic front end, and high rolling resistance tires. These additions would have made the mpg figures competitive w/ crossovers and you'd actually have a useful SUV. they gave American Axle $218 million to get us back to work and now we're being let go again. Imagine if they'd put that money into GMT360 improvements!

[CadiEldo67]

I don't think that GM is going to do away completely with the GMT-360's, its just downsizing to what the market requires. Its funny, some hate to see them go, myself included, but most will complain if GM updates them because its just wasted money. But like the post stated prior to mine, those are all things that GM could, and still can do to make these SUV's competitive, along with a new interior. If they give this segment up too, I won't be happy.

[Clocker]

Originally Posted by Copcarz

I work at the Moraine plant. It's a shame they didn't do relatively simple things like adding direct injection, a 6-speed tranny, aluminum hood/roof/liftgate, a more aerodynamic front end, and high rolling resistance tires. These additions would have made the mpg figures competitive w/ crossovers and you'd actually have a useful SUV. they gave American Axle $218 million to get us back to work and now we're being let go again. Imagine if they'd put that money into GMT360 improvements!

To someone who knows nothing about engineering, cost, development, production capacity issues etc. those are simple little 'tweaks' to make. The vehicle would need a complete 're-do' to make it competitive. No point in doing that with the Lambdas already out there. That's why the GMT361/362/371 got cancelled.

[USA1Fan]

Originally Posted by prototype66

and because dispite a dated exterior and interior it is still a popular truck with good towing ability and fairly decent MPG. Not to mention it can turn on a dime!

Agree on all points! Especially the last one- when a TB cuts a tighter turning circle than a compact sedan, you can't help but be impressed. The Lambda's aren't a bad follow-on though. In fact, other than the last point, they're probably better for my use than the Trailblazer.