The Lordstown plant in Ohio will officially go idle on March 8, but the final Chevrolet Cruze has already made its way through the assembly plant.
Photos from employees of the final Chevrolet Cruze were sent to local CBS News affiliate WKBNÂ and show the compact car with a cardboard sign that says “The Last Cruze.” Employees have also written on the car in marker with various quotes from rock band The Doors.
“I’ve survived despite you,” one of the phrases says on the unpainted body.
The first vehicle rolled off of the assembly line in 1966—a Chevrolet Impala. Over the course of decades, the plant has 16 million cars for drivers across the United States. Vehicles such as the Caprice, Bel Air, Vega, Cavalier, Cobalt and their lightly rebadged Pontiac counterparts all came from Ohio’s Mahoning Valley.
Leaders at the plant said the final Cruze will likely be white or silver as most of the final cars have been one of those colors. It’s unclear where the final car will ship to, but judging by the colors, it sounds likely to be bound for a rental fleet. It’s hardly an honorable end to the Cruze after GM shipped the final Chevrolet Volt to its heritage center, unless GM has other plans.
The Lordstown plant is one of four manufacturing facilities GM plans to “unallocate” this year. Two transmission plants in the U.S. and the Detroit-Hamtramck plant were also named in GM’s massive restructuring plan last November. The Detroit-Hamtramck plant, however, will stay online until 2020 where Cadillac CT6 and Chevrolet Impala production will continue for an extra seven months.
The Lordstown plant will receive no such stay of execution.
GM will need to negotiate the Lordstown plant’s final closure in a new labor contract with the United Auto Workers union this year. The current contract expires Sept. 14 and the union has already signaled its prepared for a battle to keep the assembly plants open.
Comments
nice job GM.
I wonder if. Machete Mary us going to make her way down there this week and wish the workers well. After all she told the children in the letter how much she cares about them and their parents.
After 16 years with a 03 Dodge Neon SXT I purchased new, with only 137,000 miles, I bought a 19 Cruze LS on 11-30-18, and I couldn’t be happier. Unlike a big SUV, my insurance is reasonable, and maintenance and repairs shouldn’t cost an arm and leg. I now have 1800 miles and regularly average 32-33 MPG around town. Not bad.
I hate to see these plants closing because it affects so many lives.
Very angry about this. That Cruze platform had at least one more redesign in it with the Watts Z Link suspension as standard.
Sad to see the Cruze go its such a great car , they should really keep the factory open until September 4th , Gm is making a mistake getting rid of the most popular cars in their line up.Not everyone wants a truck or SUV .
For a long time Chevrolet rarely if ever included the Cruze in their ads.
Time for some to just get a grip.
The Cruze was not a bad car. It was just a good car at a bad time in the market.
No there was no revamp here. Even if GM made it the best in class with more power and better mpg and lowered the price it would not have saved it.
It is sad when ever a plant closes but unfortunately that is just the tough side of business. Folks at assembly plants are generally use to this. When I was on a line they told me it might be 15 years before I get a year with no layoffs. Union bumping is tough on new guys.
GM still has to have talks with the UAW and while nothing is promised the door is not totally shut. This is not Unifo so they still have a chance.
The problem is car sales tanked to levels GM had not expected. Now by the unplanned closure there is nothing immediately ready to go into this plant. It could take a couple years before GM has a model they can offer for the UAW to bid on that will fit this plant and supplier plants in the area.
Product placement in plants is like a big puzzle and you just can’t force things in over night.
The UAW here has done their job protesting but note they are also being respectful as they do not want to burn bridges like Unifo has.
GM just has too many plants and no not everything can be built here.
Things are tough out there and they will get tougher. Ford just shut down the Taurus line last week. More closings to come.
Chrysler was just in a place to open more production after a decade of closures. Yes they killed many jobs over the last 10 years. Move some to Mexico too. Some models like the compass are Mexican and the Renegade is Italian.
I know it will take some time but I hope GM holds onto this plant and hold plans for it in the future. It may take 2-3 years but that is better than never.
No closings from Ford. The Taurus line was part of the Explorer line. That production will be replaced with a new Lincoln Aviator.
Chrysler has not closed a plant since 2009. Since then they pulled one out of the bankruptcy estate and last week’s announcement of 6500 new us jobs means that FCA as well as Ford will have more hourly employees in the US than GM or close to it.
Yet Ford stock is $8 lol!
Ford has yet to make cuts and they are coming.
Hackett already said the US cuts WILL NOT include plant closings and hourly layoffs….
Not much difference than when the N. Tarrytown, N.Y. plant was closed in 1996.
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2015/01/a-look-back-at-gms-north-tarrytown-sleepy-hollow-assembly-plant/
No, the last Cruze stopped in the Paint Shop last night, so some of my friends say that are still there.
That was the body shop in the picture and article.
It seems to me that the text on the unpainted body is “we succeed despite you”. Anyway, I’m sad to see the plant shutdown.
Obviously, but the “quoted” text possibly is “alternative facts” – like the MAGAman´s promise of bringing jobs and the industry back to the the US