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GM Seeking Expansion of Missouri Plant

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#1 · (Edited)
GM Seeking Expansion of Missouri Plant
Will GM's Wentzville, MO plant end up building new small trucks?
www.GMInsideNews.com
September 15, 2011
By: Nick Saporito


The Chevrolet Colorado Concept, revealed earlier this year at the Bangkok Motor Show.


Yesterday the city council of Wentzville, Missouri approved property tax incentives for General Motors to expand its assembly plant in the town. The unexpected news comes months after rumors surfaced that the Missouri plant would assemble GM's next generation midsize trucks.

According to reports from local St. Louis media, GM has told the city that, if ultimately carried out, they would expand the facility by about 500,000 square feet. The reports also state that the expansion could add up to 2,000 additional jobs to the plant. Today Wentzville has 1,019 hourly employees building GM's full-size vans.

Back in February PickupTrucks.com reported that GM is likely to build their next-generation midsize trucks in Wentzville. GMI was able to corroborate the report independently.

GM's next-generation midsize trucks are currently slated to launch sometime in the first half of 2014, likely as 2015 models. Although not confirmed through sources, it is expected that the next-generation midsize trucks will continue on the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon names.

The new trucks will be based off of the same architecture as the recently revealed Chevrolet Colorado for Asian markets and the Holden Colorado in Australia.

According to GM's official comment regarding the matter, the Wentzville facility is one of several plants in the running for the future product. To clarify, GM is not officially commenting on which future product the expansion would be utilized for.

Production of the current Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon is slated to end in mid-2012. The Shreveport, Louisiana plant that produces them will then close.
 
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#14 ·
But what if they continue with the current one, and because of that the market/customer base shrinks so small nobody will care about them. (and isn't this where this truck is already?)

Dear GM,

Don't make it too big, too small, too cheap, or too expensive. Or too Asian.
Or too Girly.....

The Colorado didn't sell because it was over-priced, same with the Avalanche, the Ridgeline is probably guilty of being too girly.

Why not just build the new trucks at Shreveport, Janesville, or Spring Hill if Wentzville needs to be expanded? What is happening to the van's built at Wentzville? I vote for keeping the current Colorado and Canyon in production while we wait for the new trucks to arrive.
Good question!

When is the next MCE or complete redesign expected for the Express/Savana vans? Could this "new model" be the next generation of vans that will actually replace the Express/Savana? Possibly a NA built Opel/Vauxhall Movano as discussed in the Ford E-series thread?
The Express/Savanna is shown switching form the GMT610 to a GMT620 for MY 2013, not sure how much is really changing though.
 
#7 ·
Dear GM,

Don't make it too big, too small, too cheap, or too expensive. Or too Asian.
 
#67 ·
Wish I could have been there! I use to live in Wentzville and worked at Lear Corporation across the street from GM. We made the seats for the Vans and I was a quality engineer for Lear.

Back in '96 GM was expanding the plant to add a stamping department for body panels. Now a whole new truck! Sounds good for the Show Me state!

That was one impressive assembly plant in Wentzville. I was in there almost every night and got worn out walking from one end to the other! :)
 
#9 ·
Why not just build the new trucks at Shreveport, Janesville, or Spring Hill if Wentzville needs to be expanded? What is happening to the van's built at Wentzville? I vote for keeping the current Colorado and Canyon in production while we wait for the new trucks to arrive.
 
#25 ·
There is nothing wrong with the Shreveport location.

In today's economic climate, there is no excuse for expanding a plant to build mid sized trucks when you already have one set up to do it.

Retail price in comparison to full size trucks is one of the determining factors that killed Colorado/Canyon, and you're going to start off a new truck with unnecessary plant expansion costs?

Yeah, that makes sense.
 
#30 ·
Well, they'll have plenty of time to fix the design then...

Have I said before how much I Hate that Asian looking bed? The Awful outdated 'afterburner' taillights? The Hideous stamped indentations on the rear quarters of the bed behind the wheelwells? I don't particularly care for the tailgate either.. Nor do I like the Honda Ridgeline look.

Everything flows so nicely until you get behind the nicely rounded rear wheelwells.. Then it all goes to hell.

I'd add they need to make those headlights look more agressive. More 'Evil Eyed' if you will... Nothing tacky, just enough to make it look a little tough and mean. I think the current Tahoe pulls that look off quite well. Give it the the ZR2 treatment option while you're at it with nice beefy tires.
 
#35 ·
Whether it's the full-size vans, a new mid-size pickup or some combination of models, I hope GM moves forward with the expansion. The St. Louis metropolitan area used to be home to three assembly plants; Wentzville is all that remains. We need the employment booster shot, both from assembly plant expansion and from secondary and tertiary ones created by parts suppliers and other employers near the plant.
 
#45 ·
This new Colorado looks great! I'm happy see this first tangible evidence that the new truck may indeed be coming to North America. There had been a lot of speculation that GM was going to abandon this segment in the same way Ford is rumored to be doing. IMO the very fact that Ford may be abandoning the segment is the very reason GM should bring Colorado to North America. I like this truck! I can't wait to see production versions.
 
#48 ·
I don't know what the taxes on importing trucks are but that's precisely what I was thinking. If current production is ending in 2012 and the new model isn't debuting until 2014, import the new model until the plant is ready and they've finished designing the Canyon.

Speaking of which, if the Canyon uses anything like the concept design language from the Denali and Granite, I'm in.
 
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