We live about 30 minutes from the lordstown plant that builds the cobalts & G5. The whole region is abuzz with the annoucement of a new product starting in 2010. They said on the news this new car will get 40 mpg. They are starting up the third shift again this september, due to increased demand for the cobalt. I think the HHR will make it through another design cycle as it's a fuel efficient, small vehicle that has quite alot of utility for it's size. Sure been seeing many more on the road, finally catching on to what we've known about for a few years now!

 

I live in Oshawa and the employees "are" realy P....D . The have shut down the road that leads to the corporate office in response to the company's decisions. Wagner has agreed to meet union officials in Detroit on Friday.
The whole city here is holding its breath. The Canadian government has also agreed to negotiate with GM to get another vehicle to build here. It's time all governments tried to assist citizens to try and keep their jobs. Where will their tax money come from when no one has a job left in manufacturing. No job= no tax for them to waste ...
I'm sorry about this, not trying to hijack the thread. I'm only a retired GM employee that has a lot of concern with GM's announcement .

 

Its all about GM trying to change with the times. The times require they build the most fuel efficient offerings they can, in order to compete. The age of the Gas Guzzler is coming to an end.

 

Just like it did in the early 70s, right.

 

I think its more an issue of GM not keeping up with a changing market. Thus, they are backed into a corner and have to make a drastic change right now. The HHR and similar vehicles are part of the solution though, so no worries.
I am puzzled about them persisting with Hummer though. They should be getting rid of consumer based gas guzzlers before trucks which are the backbone of many businesses.

 

I agree X 2!

 

2008 is not the early 70's. Peak oil is recognized as a valid theory by an increasing number of petroleum industry analysts. Please don't be like Nero, and demand proof that Rome is in fact burning, when there is smoke all around. Peak oil boiled down is simply the fact that oil production world wide has peaked and will begin to decline. Taken in concert with demand increasing, the ramifications for the market should be clear.

Even if one wishes to dispute the theory that oil production has peaked or is peaking and decline is occuring now or is around the corner, one thing all petroleum industry experts tend to agree on is that the Age of Easy Oil is over. New discoveries are harder to tap or are tied up in tar sands or shale deposits, or they're just much deeper and/or may require deep ocean drilling to reach. All this adds much hgher expense to exploration and production.

Any auto maker that would refuse to acknowledge the above, dismiss it as the same situation as in the 1970's, and continue to plod the same manufacturing path without regard for what the vehicle consumer market will want/need in response to permanently elevated fuel prices resulting from the above described conditions... is then a manufacturer who will lose market share against the competition at a far more rapid pace than they may be currently.

In light of this, GM is only doing what any shrewd corporation would do to protect its ability to compete and remain a player in the game.

 

Shoot, last year GM's "claim to fame" was the "all new" offerings in big SUV and pickups!

Talk about being in the market with the wrong product at the wrong time!!

And, don't forget the (now being exposed) future's speculators (not politically correct to identify that element!) that offer absolutely nothing to any economy, other that reaping big $$$$$ off the top to the detriment of all of us.

 

Prior to Oshawa the title of most productive was Oklahoma City. They shut it down several years ago...just goes to show that it's not really productivity but luck of the draw as to which product you are making when you number comes up...

 

I agree. if anything, it should increase sales of the HHR.
We will probably see a body style change in 2010 also.