As passenger car sales continue to take a nose dive in favor of crossovers and utility vehicles, it’s producing some undesired consequences at U.S. car plants.
General Motors has announced additional downtime at two of its U.S. plants: the Lordstown, Ohio and Fairfax, Kansas facilities. Union officials confirmed the additional downtime, according to WILX.
The Lordstown plant builds the 2017 Chevrolet Cruze while the Fairfax plant builds the 2017 Chevrolet Malibu. Both nameplates have seen slumping sales this year. However, Cruze sales jumped thanks to a new round of fleet sales, something GM is working to curb. Malibu sales are down 30 percent through the month of May.
GM would not give any additional specifics but stated the typical two-week shutdown may be as long as five weeks as it adjusts production of the cars with demand.
Comments
I don’t understand why the Malibu sale are slumping, it is good looking and will match up with anything in its class . maybe there should be a Turbo for more power . but on the other hand the American auto buyers are brainwashed that autos from japan are better, if they were there would be no need for warranty or service repairs . BUY AMERICAN
The Malibu has a 56% domestic content with 15% Japanese content. The Accord has a 70% domestic content.
Back in 1985 Honda made the Accord, nice car, very techy, but they rusted faster than a Chevy Vega. So while American buyer were scooping up Honda’s the real demand for Japanese autos was a self-inflected wound by the big 3 American manufactures were trying to get their heads out of their B*&^’s and wake up to the competition. But that was 25 years ago, I worked in NYC in all of the nineties, I went through 3 Chrysler grand Voyagers. I put a 1000 miles every 10 days, all I ever did was change the oil every 3000 miles and put in 3 batteries per vehicle.
Can Toyota match that durability, sure ! But you’ll pay for it in down time waiting for an appointment at the Toyota dealership. I found a good shop in my own industrial park and I never had a let down in all the years till I retired. I’m more than willing to give the Japanese credit for beating us at our own game. But that’s like betting the Mets will beat the Yankees 5 out of 5 games ? Ain’t gonna happen. I’ve been buying GM Chevrolet’s long before it was cool to drive a domestic brand. I will always buy GM. Mary Barra had a big job to fix and she has done a fantastic job. You buy a Acura and I’ll buy a Chevrolet of like vehicle and lets see who pays what at the end of a 5 year lease ?
Tom, totally agree, the American consumer should take into account where their dollars are going when they purchase a new vehicle. Consumer reporting has contributed to the notion that “American” cars are inferior. I’ll continue purchasing the GM and Ford models.
Buying a car with a GM nameplate (Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac or GMC) is that the profits return to the United States and not Japan or Germany whatever the vehicle content might be; further, despite all the chatter and anger with Donald Trump withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord which Barack Obama signed illegally (as US Constitutional Law requires that the President present all International Treaty for approval by Congress) one would think Americans would demonstrate their discourse by buying Chevrolet’s Cruze one of the most fuel efficient non-hybrid vehicles, the Chevy Volt or Bolt.