Two days ago I reported on Ford’s plans to retool one of its Mexican 
automobile plants to build a compact car (the Fiesta) and now General Motors is planning to do the same. Instead of Mexico, GM has its sights on its Lordstown, OH plant, which currently produces the Chevy Cobalt as the production plant for its new subcompact.
A New Subcompact For Chevrolet
GM is being aggressive with the new model, promising to have it on display at auto shows beginning later this year and start production in early 2009. Based on a platform developed for GM Daewoo and Opel, the car will be powered by an Ecoboost 1.4L engine and is expected to top 40 mpg for highway driving. The yet unnamed model would be the most economical GM car built stateside and would offset some of the job losses and plant closings also announced by GM today.
The Lordstown plant currently produces 1500 cars daily. With the new model, production would increase to 2100 units as both the Cobalt and its new, smaller sibling would be built at the plant. The Cobalt is slated to be replaced by a new model in 2010.
Hummer Sale Now Possible
In other news from General Motors, the company announced that its Hummer brand could be discontinued, sold, or partly sold as part of its bid to switch over to smaller vehicles. Another option for GM would be to drop the biggest Hummer models and replace them with one or two smaller trucks, but the expense may not be something the company wants to tackle in the face of across the board losses.
Yesterday, Barron’s reported that they expect GM stock to double or triple soon after the company completes its overhaul, a task not expected to be done before the end of 2010.
