General motors to totally close the Oshawa,Ontario plant up here in Canada. If so this is going to have a signifigant impact on that area. There are parts manufacturers locally there as well that serviced that plant.


GM might be getting into major trouble as assembly quality was very good. Yet if the product was bad by engineering design then it would not matter much.

GM is running several US plants well under their manufacturing capacity, which is financial suicide. That, coupled with a diminished market demand for sedans, including the Cadillac manufactured at that plant, is probably the reason for the production consolidation leading to the rumored closure.

All over the net news.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/26/gm-unallocating-several-plants-in-2019-to-take-3-billion-to-3point8-billion-charge-in-future-quarters.html

Seems they’re taking a little off the top.

I think cafe ratings pushed them to fall off the edge just like ford. cafe ratings say to reduce fuel consumption in a downward spiral till they will hit a wall.

Trucks are not part of it - more win for manufacturer. - and btw trucks are the new luxury symbol anyway, just price out a caddy escalade 4x4 with everything checked on the list.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Sure. It was CAFE. Somehow the fifty or so overseas builders are muddling through. But US carmakers can’t manage, not even with tariff protection. Guess we’ll need to bail them out.

Few overseas builders are building Ford Expedition-class vehicles...

If your point is that dinosaurs are extinct, I agree.

I like my chev van but I rarely like US cars. I wish it wasn't so.

Too many years of muscle cars and big OHV engines. Cheap gas. Oh boy.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Yep. They are "unallocating" the plant near me. They build the Cruze. Its a massive complex too, some 6 million square feet or something. I worked there briefly. Saw it go from 3 shift down to 1 just recently. Some 2,500 jobs will be gone. I already know of at least three other companies that will be closing as a result.

GM was one of the last large scale employers in my area. Now all that is left are call center jobs and a new distribution center that is being built still.

Rumor from some people at the plant is that they are deallocating the cruze. which then means the lordstown plan will have no car to build. They will do that until the contracts are negotiated in October. So from May to Oct they won't have a car to build. During that time all the guys with seniority will quit/take a buy out/transfer. SO when they start back up again, they have to hire new people at a lower wage.

Sure will suck to see another big facility like that go out. In the 70-90s, I think the Delphi/Packard Electric Systems was even larger, employing some 20K+ people making all of the wiring bits. They are gone too, only the R&D facility is left.

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So, will Donald Trump save all these lost jobs? When Carrier decided to flee to Mexico, he did a great job keeping employees working in the US... for about 10 minutes.

the 50 or overseas builders already have machines that can do 50 mpg and those same overseas companies can make them in hours. Infact they already sell them to other countries.

__________________
2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

GM competes in every market in the world. They have different offerings in non-US markets. Are you saying they aren't competitive globally? I doubt that's the case.

I think they milk the US large car buyers for as much profit as possible. Their "moat" is that nowhere else in the world do people want supersize pickups and SUV's.

The big three may be toast. It will take some time.

I suspected GM was bailed out because of so many retired pensioners where getting 60k a year. There was no way the government could pick that loading up directly without setting a dangerous president. GM after the bailout is probably still loaded down with this.

Otherwise the rational of that time was their production numbers would just be absorbed by other manufacturers. Anyways today should have been expected. The quality of their car products where just not good enough by todays standards. Plus just as expensive as those that were. Compounded by reduced retained values. Made them far more expensive.

They were producing lease cars basically. In a market where ultimately their expected lifespan without major issues fit. Buyers with longer term higher milage in mind deserted them. They had just made another major misteak.

The big three also made the error of staying with the concept hype alone would continue to function and sell cars forever. It used to be said at one time. As General motors goes so does America. I do not know the truth of this today. Still it remains as it is.

From the wealthiest corporation known at one time to what it has become. Another too big to fail enterprise? Or a weathervane indicating the future. The central core of the industrial Midwest picture in America continues to be just getting more and more hollowed out.

Few local used car lots locally do not even want them in their inventory. Trucks yes and suvs if they get the suvs cheap enough. Plus a few vans. Resale values have also plummeted with so many lease returns. Those that purchased on 84 month terms. Start the process all over again. Not by choice in many cases. Just cheaper than trying to keep what they acquired on the road.

I wonder if the Trump-increased U.S. tariffs on foreign steel played a role in the decision to shut down U.S. plants...