GM Cancels U.S. Production for Orlando Crossover

by Robert Farago

September 18th, 2008 4:04 PM

gm cancels u s production for orlando crossover

The Wall Street Journal reports that General Motors has canceled plans to build the seven-seat Orlando stateside, or bring a foreign-built version to The Land of the Free. “The canceled Chevrolet vehicle, code-named the ‘Delta MPV7,’ was originally intended to be built in Hamtramck, Mich., beginning next year, according to the auto maker’s recent agreements with the United Auto Workers union. The MPV, or multi-purpose vehicle, would have been based on GM’s compact-car architecture, but capable of seating seven people.” The program termination leaves the U.S. factory SOL, hoping to score Volt production (via federal low-interest loans, of course). The United Auto Workers (UAW) can’t be too pleased about recent developments, having acquiesced to GM’s “two-tier” wage system, increased health insurance co-pays, etc. in their last contract. “In recent months, the auto maker has suspended plans for several new models that GM told the UAW last September it would eventually build in North America. These suspended model programs include a new generation full-size trucks and sport-utility vehicles; large, rear-wheel drive luxury cars; and a redesigned flagship sedan, known as the Aura, for the Saturn division.” To be fair, that is one ugly-looking thing. And did GM really need another model? More interestingly, was the Orlando a head fake from the beginning?

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Nudave on Sep 19, 2008

I would think by now the UAW would understand that all of GM's US production will eventually be cancelled. If GM actually survives, I suspect they will "make" cars just like Westinghouse "makes" televisions and Kodak "makes" cameras. And (although I may be wrong on this) I don't believe the UAW has a presence in China, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, or India.

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Mark MacInnis on Sep 19, 2008

So, it would appear that they dug into every office sofa in the RenCen, and couldn't come up with enough nickels to pay for the tooling and development. That they are giving the ax to this, while giving the go-ahead for the abomination known as the G3, speaks volumes. A shame, as this is the one GM vehicle with true promise that I have seen all year. All the proceeds from soda-can deposits must be being poured into the Volt, which makes it now the "home run or bust" vehicle for the General. Perhaps they should rename any rebadged Pontiac version of the Volt as the "Alamo." I am willing to bet my last piaster (Steely Dan reference alert) we'll see C11 from GM before we see a delivered Camaro. Any takers?

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Davey49 on Sep 19, 2008

nudave- there are fairly strong unions in Korea, don't know about the rest. Shipping costs for Asian manufacture for cars trump the savings in labor. Mexico(cheap labor) and Canada (expensive labor but no medical costs) win for making cars for sale in North America. There's a rumor they're replacing this with a tiny car again (Beat?)

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Morbo on Sep 20, 2008
ppellico said: '''and make the Equinox a really good small ECONOMICAL CUV...it be a very popular purchase…..." Avis punished me with this thing (actually a Torrent) the last time I rented from them (I think they're still mad at me for returning a top of the line Galant to them sans rear bumper). NOTHING will EVER make this thing desirable. I've driven enough of these CUV's to know what they're about. The things which make the CR-V & Escape desirable & the RAV4 and Outlander acceptable, are what the Torrenox fail at miserably. It got a horribly rough engine, mated to an archaic, gear-hunting transmission with horrible fuel economy. Acceleration (off-the-line or 40MPH+), usually the one saving grace of a rough engine and clueless transmission, is not present. It sways during lane changes, sways during braking, and sways in a swift wind. The interior gave me eye cancer from looking at it; seriously, I can't be in the driver's seat without some plasti-chrome somewhere blinding me. The fit and finish after 3000 miles at Avis was... revealing. I started turning up the sound system to mask the rattles, but the hissing from the tinny speakers got too annoying. I was actually too afraid to take it off-road; meanwhile I've taken an Escape (actually Mariner - damn Avis and their rebadge purchases) down the mountain on the big Island of Hawaii (and more importantly back up), found the Grand Cherokee is great at pulling out of frozen mud/snow/rain (except that the damn thing sucks fuel like a baby sucks a teat) and that the Chevy Impala drives surprising well in the sands of West Florida. Sorry for the rant. I don't normally go off-topic, but the Torrenox s just SO BAD I felt it was necessary.

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