By John Horner
July 21, 2008
On the occasion of GM's 100 year anniversary, the Kalamazoo Gazette held a "live-by-email" interview with GM CEO Rick Wagoner. So, PR fluff aside, how many more jobs losses is GM-heavy Flint, Michigan going to endure? Uh… GM is pitting Flint against other sites for the production of its next generation 1.4-liter turbocharged four-banger. For which Wagoner claims a nine mpg improvement over "Chevy's current entry in this segment." (Did he means the Aveo or the Cobalt? Smart money is on the Aveo, since it currently sticks out for its poor fuel economy vis a vis the class leaders.) Rick also said the new engine might be used as the ICE portion of the Volt. Now hold on. If the Volt is due into production in about 18 months, shouldn't the engine choice be a done deal? As for Flint's chances of getting the four-banger and other new projects, Rick told Flintonians to "rest assured, we have every intention of ensuring that Flint has every opportunity to play an important role in GM's future." A direct question: will the last local final assembly plant, Flint Truck Assembly, emain open? Rick gave a long winded non-answer which came down to that GM plans to keep building pickup trucks– somewhere. Oddly enough, the words flex-fuel, hydrogen and ethanol are nowhere to be found in Rick's latest recitation of how GM plans "to be a global automotive leader for the next 100 years." The choice of words is telling. "A global automotive leader", not "THE global automotive leader." My how the mighty have fallen.
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July 21st, 2008 at 7:51 pm
They’re also getting ready to decide whether Volt will be a car or an SUV.
July 21st, 2008 at 7:52 pm
From the headline, I thought you meant the guy over at Forbes.
July 21st, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Wagoner claims a nine mpg improvement over “Chevy’s current entry in this segment.”
I absolutely love it when a company compares its future product versus its current product.
Either it means that the current product is crap (likely) or they are overstating how good the future product will be (very likely).
Basically, it lets them fudge the numbers with no fear of actually having to back them up.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Whatever, Flint has already moved on to a booming new economy based solely around its fabulous Dort Hwy strip clubs.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:22 pm
btw, they aren’t called Flintonians, they are Flintoids.
I think Rick might buy some “stuff” in flint to smoke.
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:37 am
Michael Moore is from Flint, he might make for you a documentary. Bowling for Detrot, or Ricko, or fahrenheit Chapter 11.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:08 am
@jurisb or call it Rick and Me. Then all he would have to do is take Roger and Me and copy it put it in a new DVD case and start selling it again.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:11 am
Did he means the Aveo or the Cobalt? Smart money is on the Aveo, since it currently sticks out for its poor fuel economy vis a vis the class leaders.)
Lutz has made it clear that Cruze will get 45mpg. It can’t get any more clear than that.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:23 am
Ah, if Lutz said something then you can take it to the bank, eh?
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:53 am
Flint has already moved on to a booming new economy based solely around its fabulous Dort Hwy strip clubs.
Well there’s your answer then. Just levy a small surcharge tax on these enterprises and hand it over to GM for building the plant in Flint. Of course the handout must exceed that from the competing desperate cities. Not much different though from what New York gave recently gave IBM for an upgrade to a chip plant in East Fishkill. IBM is doing a $1B upgrade with the state pouring in $140M to ’save’ 1,000 jobs. Of course IBM wasn’t about to close the plant anyway.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:09 am
jurisb: “Roger & Me,” Michael Moore’s flick about the troubles in Flint was made quite a while ago.
Dort was once Billy Durant’s partner when they made horse drawn carriages.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Flint heart Wagoner? Doubtful, seeing as how there are acres of level ground where Buick City and a huge Chevy plant (”Chevy in the hole”) used to stand. Flint has become a landmark for depressed/ruined metropolitan areas, as referenced in the movie “Semi-Pro.” Plenty of good people still around there though.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:17 am
As a UK resident I initially thought the “Kalamazoo Gazette” was an in house magazine for the office equipment company. Whoever thought of calling a place Kalamazoo in the first place - a hippy high on angel dust!