At some point people are going to start torching thier suv and minivans(minivans aren't much better on gas than your average suv.

AP
GM closing 4 truck and SUV plants in North America
Tuesday June 3, 12:34 pm ET





General Motors plans to close 4 truck and SUV plants in US, Canada Mexico

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -- General Motors is closing four truck and SUV plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, affecting 10,000 workers, as surging fuel prices hasten a dramatic shift to smaller vehicles.








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CEO Rick Wagoner said Tuesday before the automaker's annual meeting in Delaware the plants to be idled are in Oshawa, Ontario; Moraine, Ohio; Janesville, Wis.; and Toluca, Mexico. He also said the iconic Hummer brand will be reviewed and potentially sold or revamped.
Wagoner said the GM board has approved production of a new small Chevrolet car at a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, in mid-2010 and production of the Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle in Detroit.
Wagoner announced the moves in response to slumping sales of pickups and SUVs brought on by high oil prices. He said a market shift to smaller vehicles is permanent.
GM shares rose 43 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $17.87 in midday trading.
The cuts will affect 10,000 hourly and salaried workers. Many will be able to take openings created when 19,000 more U.S. hourly workers leave later this year through early retirement and buyout offers.
Wagoner said the company has no plans to allocate products to the four plants in the future.
"We really would not foresee the likely prospect of new products in the plants that we're announcing today that we'll cease production in," he told a Moraine, Ohio, city official who asked a question in a telephone conference call.
More cuts will be announced later. Wagoner said GM will consolidate engine, transmission and other parts operations to go with the assembly plant actions.
The actions add to a string of plant closures by the Big Three in the last several years. GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC have announced the shutdown of 35 plants since 2005, according to Sean McAlinden, chief economist with the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. Along with 35 additional closures at GM and Ford's chief suppliers, Delphi Corp. and Automotive Components Holdings LLC, he said the total hourly and salaried jobs eliminated comes to 149,000.
In that same time period, foreign automakers have built or announced plans to build five U.S. assembly plants, he said. In 2007, foreign auto companies employed 113,000 people in the U.S., a number McAlinden projects will rise to 152,000 by 2011.
The Oshawa truck plant, which builds the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, likely will be shuttered next year. The Moraine plant near Dayton, will stop making Chevy TrailBlazer and other mid-size SUVs in 2010 "or sooner if demand dictates," Wagoner said. In Janesville, the plant that builds medium-duty trucks and big SUVs like the Chevrolet Tahoe, will cease production starting at the end of 2009, finishing in 2010 or sooner if demand stays weak. In Toluca, production of medium-duty trucks will end by the end of 2008, Wagoner said.
The moves will save the company $1 billion per year starting in 2010. Combined with previous efforts, GM by 2011 will have cut costs by $15 billion a yea

 

I am glad to see they are ending those dangerous rides

 

There is still a market for pick-ups, and always will be. But it will be the people who actually need the truck that buys them. Like construction, contractors, people hauling trailers/boats, hunters, etc...

I always saw the SUV as something for people who could've been using a minivan instead, but didn't want to be seen in one. If the huge SUV's (Furd Expedition for example) completely die off, I don't think they'll be missed by very many. They're mainly a status vehicle anyway. Look at the Caddy Escalade. Who would actually use that to haul stuff around? Who would actually go off-roading with that?

 

Sorry to hear this.

Cause this plant isn't real far from me.
Moraine, Ohio

 

lol, my girlfriend wouldn't hesitate to take one off-road or haul stuff around in one. Then again, she is crazy like me.

 

I am going to hate to see the TB go. It really is a great truck. Especially the SS model. Hate to see all the jobs going overseas.