GM To Reduce Saturn Aura & Chevy Malibu Output; Goal To Align Production With Sales

[Perian]

Link: http://biz.yahoo.com/bizj/070219/1420317.html?.v=1

General Motors Corp. will cut production at its Fairfax Assembly Plant starting May 7 and lay off an undetermined number of workers, a company spokesman said Monday.

The Fairfax plant manager notified employees a few hours ago about the planned reduction in output, said Dan Flores, spokesman for GM North American manufacturing and labor relations in Pontiac, Mich.

"We're going to cut production to better align with market demand," Flores said. "The next step is to sit down with the UAW and work on a job-rearrangement plan. We don't know how much, but there will be some employee impact."

GM makes the Chevy Malibu and Saturn Aura, and hybrid versions of each, at the Fairfax plant. The plant has about 2,500 hourly and about 250 salaried workers, Flores said.

The plant will continue to run two shifts a day but will reduce output on each shift. The plant will shut down for a week starting April 30 in preparation for the reduced output.

GM announced a few months ago that it will build the next-generation Chevy Malibu at the Fairfax plant, and the output reduction won't affect that, Flores said.

Softening in the mid-size car segment prompted GM's decision to reduce output at the plant, he said.

[Perian]

Kudos to GM.

They seem to be standing strong on Malibu fleet sales, and regarding the Aura, what else can they do? The marketing seems dead-on and it did win COY in Detroit. I guess it just needs a little more time for marketplace acceptance (and possibly a manual transmission IMO).

The March 2007 demise of the Ion may help Aura sales a little.

Let's hope the new Malibu brings those workers (and line speed) back!

[civilzues]

they need more Saturn dealers!!!!!! that will help too

[Geotpf]

I didn't know the hybrid Aura and Malibu were out yet.

[mr_bots]

Could this be GM thinking correctly? Instead of flooding the market to keep plants at 100% they're slowing production down to keep incentives fairly low? However, I don't know if this would be a problem if people would stop running to the Toyota dealer assuming the Camry is God's gift to the world and actually step inside the Saturn dealer to see how good the Aura actually is. But what the heck, all those positive reviews must be biased, of course the Camry is the best.

[TahoeMikeZ71]

Originally Posted by Geotpf

I didn't know the hybrid Aura and Malibu were out yet.

I don't think they are.

Originally Posted by civilzues

they need more Saturn dealers!!!!!! that will help too

No, they need better and more advertising to get people into these dealers to see these cars.

[56 Starchief]

the Aura ads are few and far between.

GM really stinks at marketing/PR.

[rsbaker]

Originally Posted by Perian

Kudos to GM.

They seem to be standing strong on Malibu fleet sales, and regarding the Aura, what else can they do? The marketing seems dead-on and it did win COY in Detroit. I guess it just needs a little more time for marketplace acceptance (and possibly a manual transmission IMO).

The March 2007 demise of the Ion may help Aura sales a little.

Let's hope the new Malibu brings those workers (and line speed) back!

I'm just now starting to see a number of Auras on the street.. I think once people see them and realize that they are Saturns, sales will spike up. It took a while for G6 to take off
put they did finally pick up.

[smk4565]

Good plan. They don't need more Saturn dealers, they just need time for people to start liking them again, they still have that Rubermaid doors image, but that will fade in a couple years. GM is on the right track, they just have to be patient and wait for public perception catch up with reality.

Lexus has something like 220 dealerships, vs Cadillac's 1300, and Lexus sells more cars. Better cars + fewer dealers = more profits. I am all for not producing tons of excess.

[smk4565]

The Aura and 08 Malibu sales will pick up over time, just like the 2003 CTS. It may be a little slow year one, but once word gets out and people learn about them, they will grow.

[Kappa]

Its a good move there for GM. With less volume, can produce more profit without being over produced. Okay, that could have been better, but it should really help out in the long run and GM could start to do it on more products soon to and has a better chance of making a profit without wasting time on extra cars that might not be sold.

Since I think most of us know that overproducing a product can lead to major losses if unable to sell all products. So with the new Malabu/Aura with the hybrids soon to follow, and the need for better ads, GM can get what they need out of this if done right and only then to.

[Elk]

Originally Posted by civilzues

they need more Saturn dealers!!!!!! that will help too

No they need the new Malibu. All making Saturn’s dealer network bigger is going to do is cannibalize GM’s other brands sales.

[TransAmTrance]

Originally Posted by 56 Starchief

the Aura ads are few and far between.

GM really stinks at marketing/PR.

i fully agree, look at the toyota marketing with the release of camry/yaris/tundra. their ads are everywhere, all the time. they let everyone know whether they like it or not, that these models are available. the amount of ads for aura/silverado-sierra/and lambdas aren't even remotely close

[civilzues]

Originally Posted by Elk

No they need the new Malibu. All making Saturn’s dealer network bigger is going to do is cannibalize GM’s other brands sales.

GM wants to have Saturn at 2/3 the volume of Chevy with 1/5 of the stores, tell me how that will work!

[dindak]

A lot more marketing is needed to drive Aura demand. People just do not know it exists though I have seen the ads on TV many times.

I wish the XR was a little less expensive, I may end up going for a 3.6L Malibu because I think it's going to be cheaper and likely just as good.