GM shuns big trucks and may drop a Hummer

Last week it was Ford getting the Big Truck is Bad; Small Car is Good religion. This week it's the General.

With unsold pickups piling up at dealers like dirty laundry at the laundramat, CEO Rick  Wagoner (finally!) waved the white flag, admitting the market shift to smaller vehicles is "permanent." Hence, General Motors is closing four truck and SUV plants in North America including its plant in Oshawa.

The other bad, big truck news is that GM has begun a "strategic review" of once seemingly unstoppable HUMMER brand.

GM told Autoblog that all options are being considered including "ramping up the portfolio," shutting the brand down or "selling it in whole or in part."

Maybe GM and Cyrberus can get together and package up Jeep and Hummer. Any takers?

The flip side to GM's Big Truck blues is the signing off of a new small Chevrolet car plant (too bad it's in Lordstown, Ohio, and not Ontario) and confirmation the Volt will be made in Detroit (which may be as close to Canada as GM will make a car if this trend continues.)

None of this abandoning of large vehicle production should be surprising or shocking to anyone. As the price of oil becomes ever more global, North America—OK, the States—is the only market in the world that considers full-size pickups and SUVs as daily passenger transportation where the rest of the planet drives Corollas and Golfs.  So who do you blame?:

• GM—and Ford and Chrysler—for their collective lack of foresight?

• Past and previous Canadian federal and provincial governments for their lack of protectionism?

• Ignorant consumers who put Big Truck style ahead of practicality?

• The CAW for selling out to (another) U.S. owned corporation?

[Source: The Star, Autoblog, GM]

Comments

[Steve]

Hargrove's an idiot!

[lisa]

This is what happens in a normal economy, society moves forward you can't tell me that no one thought the SUV love affair would never end.
In the 19th century horses were the main means of transport and held up a whole network of industries then they fell out of favour. The car is only 100 years old or so it is inevitable that auto manufacturing becomes less profitable and plants close.
Not pleasant but really they've been living on borrowed time for ages, the union just postponing the inevitable.

[Wayne]

Have you noticed the price of the Canadian Dollar vers. the American. Then ask why the Oshawa plant is closing and not the truck plant in Pontiac Mi. Cross border shopping in reverse!

[don more]

here is a funny episode of union-activism gone mad. go on strike every 3 years, push the envelop on the outlandish demands of a car company whose vehicles nobody buys anymore, extort benefits, concessions, anything else that may be left in the cupboard. and if at the end of 60 years or so of this nonsense, if the company decides they can't do this anymore, lets go on strike because they are shutting it down. la la land and all the fun associated with it is over boys. pack up your bags and go home. nobody buys your product anymore. there is no point in diverting precious resources (government handouts) on making a vechicle nobody wants at union prices. i bet if any one of the laid off employees had a business employing people and that business was on its way out, would that person continue doing business if his employees started barking about the unfairness of closing shop? nothing can stop evolution folks. companies die and others are born. get used to it. it has been the reality of every hardworking non-union canadian for years.

[Harold Hemberger]

I had a 1998 Malibu LS. It had the famous intake manifold gasket problem. GM knows about the problem, but failed to take responsibility. Their cars are becoming poorly designed. I say GM's days are numbered as well. How come GM loses money and other auto companies are making money?

[Willy Sio]

In my opinion, it is the big 3 auto makers to be blamed for the current closings. Firstly, SUV's and large trucks generate more profit than smaller cars. Secondly, oil companies never ever encouraged the manufacturers to downsize as that policy would hurt their pocketbook. after all auto and oil complement each other. Thirdly, government never enthusiastically encouraged or enforced the manufacturers to produce energy-efficient vehicles so they would not have to face corporate pressures. The unions always badgered Japan to allow North American imports, but the problem was there were never any suitable vehicle to meet the Japanese needs as they don't have super highways. I remember Henry Ford Sr's karma was the large vehicle (e.g. 120" wheelbase) was for the man of the house while the wife drove a small car. Its been about 30-35 years when I read this, but never forgot his ill-conceived principles. Its because of this article I changed my concept of cars and went Japanese ever since. Now Japanese cars are made in North America with AMERICAN/CANDIAN labour except for the nameplate that seems to cause adverse remarks. But when GM & Ford outsourced to Mexico, I didn't hear any outcry. Union wages and attitude don't cut it in a globally competitive world, so although it is regretable that workers will suffer, they are also part of the problem and their leader(s) do not seem to consider addressing the issue. How come Honda and Toyota are making great strides in the industry. They are using local labour too and it was hartening to hear Toyota was successful in keeping their plants non-union. If their workers were so unhappy, they wouldn't have voted the union out. I am not a union basher, but there comes a time of no return when there is more expenditure than income and any commonsense housewife certainly knows how to balance their budget.