DETROIT -- General Motors will suspend production at its Shreveport, La., assembly plant starting Monday because of a parts shortage stemming from the earthquake in Japan.
The move appears to mark the first North American assembly plant to be idled because of the Japanese disaster.
The plant makes the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon compact pickups.
GM manufacturing spokesman Chris Lee declined to identify the missing Japanese part or parts, or estimate how many vehicles would be knocked out of the factory schedule because of the interruption.
Even General Motors, a company that might seem to benefit from disruptions to Japan’s auto industry, finds itself in a period of watchful waiting. For one thing, the new Chevrolet Volt plug-in-hybrid from G.M. — whose sales could conceivably benefit from any production snags in Toyota’s popular made-in-Japan Prius — depends on a transmission from Japan.
Mark L. Reuss, G.M.’s president for North American operations, said Wednesday that he did not yet know whether his company could count on an uninterrupted flow of that Volt component from Japan.
“We just don’t know from a supply standpoint; there’s so many great things that come out of Japan for the whole industry,” he said, speaking to reporters after a speech at the University of Detroit Mercy.
My heart really goes out to the Japanese people. Not only do they have to deal with the immense natural disaster of the earthquake and Tsunami, but the impending threat of a Nuclear Meltdown is as equally challenging. I can only hope for the best, and do what I can to help out (via donations). Hopefully the usual generosity and support of the American people, along with the immense skill and expertise of the Japanese will result in a positive outcome.
Re: GM Stops Chevy Colorado Production Due To Japanese Parts Shortage; Is The Volt Ne
Yet another reason why GM needs to abandon an Isuzu design and engineer their own pickup here in the USA. A new small to midsize pickup (ala mini GMT-900) can't come soon enough...
Yet another reason why GM needs to abandon an Isuzu design and engineer their own pickup here in the USA. A new small to midsize pickup (ala mini GMT-900) can't come soon enough...
and the 6speed manuals in the CTSs and Camaros are Aisin, and while they are no longer building it anymore, the SRX Turbo had the 6speed auto from them also. Maybe it will affect Saab, IDK.
The sooner they halt the Colorado platform the better. Has absolutely no future and has never been a segment leader. Hell, even the S10 platform (which was absolutely terrible), sold gobs via S10, Blazers, etc. A new platform means a new platform for a smaller full size SUV truck and adds another option to the non-crossover segment.
Why was the S-10 platform terrible? I owned a 2000 S-10 and found it to be an extremely reliable truck. Sadly it was totaled in a roll over accident that I was able to walk away from without a scratch.
Something tells me it'd be tough to find a car made today that doesn't have at least one part that's made in Japan, and all it takes is one part to screw up the whole production line.
I imagine it's a similar story if you look at cars made in other parts of the world with American parts. I can't imagine there are many cars made that use no American parts at all.
It was just a very tiny, unsafe truck. I can't comment on the reliability and how they performed, just thought they were very cheaply done, even for their time era.
Come to think of it, that would have been an even more serious incentive for GM to shutter their American Fremont, Van Nuys and South Gate plants, if they hadn't already done so... sending those jobs to northeastern Mexico instead would've nicely solved the seismic reliability problem.
So what is the percentage of domestic parts in the Volt. Maybe BigAl could let us know, dosen't he have a loaner in his garage now, it would be on the window sticker, or the guy out of NJ, who purchased one, and I am sorry because I can't for the life of me remember his name. whats the sticker say!!!!
This is a microcosm of what would have happened if GM and Chrysler went bankrupt and liquidated. Parts suppliers would have dropped like fleas, leaving all production not done in-house to be halted. They estimated that 3 million workers, most in the supplier portion, would have lost their jobs. That the result would be all automotive production in the US being shut down for 6 to 12 months while new suppliers were found and brought on line. Not a pretty picture.
Well that's stupid. They can just send them to the south or midwest. Just because Cali has a fault line does not mean it needs to be sent out of the country entirely.
Just because GM left the Canyon and Colorado to wither on the vine, didn't make them bad trucks or a bad idea. I own an '04 Colorado and its really been a great truck. I had an S-10 prior, and my Colorado was better on all counts.
In '04, The Colorado was the best of the group, and I drove the Tacoma, Frontier and the Dodge. They weren't as good.
The car business is a moving target. You gotta refresh and keep up with the next guy. I have zero complaints with my Colorado. It was well built and HIGHLY reliable. 120K + on the clock and it drives and runs like the day I bought it.
It's too bad that the small truck is probably going off the BOF standard and to a light weight unitbody design. It appears as though GM looks to be going that way. At least we'll have a choice. A full size pickup is just too big for my purposes.
I just remember terrible crash ratings. That's just one circumstance that you survived a rollover... I also heard of people who think the honda box shaped thing saved their lives...
Anyway this is a prime opportunity for entrepreneurs and businesses to produce their own parts right here in the U.S. A big reason japanese car makers have been successful hasn't been because of their engineering, which I think is chinsy and ugly, but because they use more American parts than American cars use.
Lol no man I didn't take it as a replacement to the Colorado. I guess I think of that car as being like the SSR that was a huge flop. Honestly, I don't care, I think the more American muscle we have the better. I can just be cynical when commenting about particular vehicles that don't suit my interest.
Ah I see the whole SSR = El Camino or SSR is the spiritual successor to the El Camino thing is a fallacy IMO because the SSR is built on the GMT370 platform which is not a passenger car platform. The El Camino and Holden Ute (my sig car) are true coupe utilities because they are built on passenger car platforms. The SSR is in the same category as the Ram SRT-10 as a sport/muscle truck.
GM is probably happy to have an excuse to cut Colorado and Canyon production.
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