Five months after announcing that it had resumed its 2020-2024 investment plan in Brazil, General Motors just confirmed that a significant part of the budget will be dedicated to the São José dos Campos plant and the next-generation Chevy S10. The automaker reaffirmed its commitment to invest in the São José complex during a recent meeting with the Brazilian city’s workers union.
The news was published by the São José dos Campos Regional Metalworkers Union, exactly as happened in February 2019 when the organization announced that GM had reached an agreement with them to invest at least 5 billion reais (about one billion USD at the current exchange rate) at the São Paulo state plant. In addition to the upcoming Chevy S10, this investment also includes a makeover for its TrailBlazer SUV derivative.
“General Motors confirmed that it will carry out new investments for the São José dos Campos factory, in compliance with the agreement signed with the Metalworkers Union in 2019,” said the São José dos Campos division of the organization in a statement. “A confirmation of the meeting between the automaker and the union anticipates that the investments will be concluded in 2023,” the note also mentioned.
In a scenario heavily affected by the closure of factories and workforce reduction due to the economic instability, the investment confirmation by GM South America to manufacture the next-generation Chevy S10 and TrailBlazer at the São José dos Campos plant is undoubtedly good news for the Brazilian automotive industry. The union expressed its enthusiasm, as the company also plans to increase local production and hire new people.
The São José dos Campos plant currently employs about 3,800 workers and is the only GM facility that manufactures the international Chevy S10/Colorado and TrailBlazer SUV for worldwide consumption, after retiring from the market in Thailand and closing its local manufacturing operation over the past year.
The next-generation 2023 Chevrolet Colorado was spied for the first time last month.
The fourth-generation Chevy S10 will be released during the 2023 calendar year in Brazil and will share even more components with the upcoming 2023 Chevy Colorado, including an updated version of GM’s midsize ladder-frame architecture called 31XX-2. Both the midsize pickup and its SUV variant are expected to adopt all-new exterior and interior designs as well as state-of-the-art technologies to reinforce its competitive advantage in the region.
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Comments
GM needs a P/U similar to the size of the Maverick just introduced by Ford.
Let’s first see how the Maverick does after the initial rush at intro.
FWD trucks have never been big sellers and once optioned up the Maverick is going to cost well beyond the $20,000 base. With destination fees it is almost $22k before one single option.
The Maverick is not going to be as cheap as some think, as small as they want and good of mpg with the more common Turbo 4.
It will still be cheaper and get better gas mileage than any other P/U out there. Americans love their small SUV’s, they will buy a small P/U, just as they did S10’s and the original Ranger.
Patrick the Maverick loaded up will be closing in on $35,000 and you can get a nice Colorado for that or less.
As for MPG the Maverick with the Turbo 250 hp will get similar to the Santa Fe. And that is getting 21 mpg city the same as my Canyon Denali.
My Sonoma wit 2 wheel drive extended cab got 19 mpg. My Canyon with. Crew cab. 4×4 and 120 more HP gets 21 mpg.
Don’t give me coke and call it jack. I owned these vehicles and know what they did.
Well I am not sure why you believe if you load up a small Ford P/U with options the price will skyrocket, but if you load up a GM somehow it does not. My experience has been quite the opposite with purchasing several GM vehicles. As for gas millage, there is no reason to believe the Maverick will do any worse than a similar sized vehicle. I have a GMC Terrain AWD with a 2.5L and it gets in the 30’s on the highway. Anyways, time will tell but I think Ford will be enjoying the lack of competition for a while.
If you look at Ford and how they price vehicles they low ball prices and then add the prices to options and packages that generally add much to the price fast. They do this on the F150 and other models.
You see it now in the Bronco as they marketed it as under $30k but by the time you get the good stuff it is over $40k fast. The Bronco Sport Badlands is nearly the same package and it jumps to the $33k mark fast be you add more options.
As for MPG it is not a Terrain.
The Bronco sport with the same platform and the same 250 hp engine has a EPA rating economy figures of 21/26/23 mpg. You will see similar numbers here on the Maverick. This truck is not as small and as light as you think. It is larger and heavier than the Terrain.
The whole reason for this truck is that it can be based on a CUV Escape platform that saves money in development cost and makes it more profitable than a Ranger that shares little other than the Bronco.
The truth is some do want smaller trucks like myself. But we still want RWD based and we want a bed that is still usable. The truth is the Canyon I have is slightly bigger than my Sonoma but not by that much. It get more mod and is much more usable in return for the extra size.
For typical car and CUV buyers drive is not an issue. For truck buyers it is a big deal as this is why truck sales took off when many vehicles went FWD.
The final thing is this. The Maverick is more CUV than truck. It is not going to do bad but in a year it will settle down to normal levels. The Honda sells at levels half of the Colorado. No it is not price as it is a similar price to the Colorado and will be much like the Maverick once you get 5he hood one.
Ford will push options as this is where the money is. You will never see base models on most lots as they are mostly on paper like a base Corvette.
The Maverick is more Ford Sport Trac vs a Ranger substitute. More passenger than bed.
Is the Trailblazer coming to US with a new name?
No, they already have CUV’s in that size class and Americans aren’t using or needing BOF midsize SUV’s. Only one that is out there is the 4 Runner and it is outsold by the similarly size Highlander by a large amount and the Venza is already at 10k sales a month new which is about what the 4 Runner does now and those others easily out do the 4 Runner in terms of cargo capacity, ride, handling, features, etc. Only those who off road want the 4 Runner and very few actually do and would be much better off with the other options. So no, there isn’t a solid business case to bring it here with the Blazer and Traverse selling so well.
While I agree with some of this I do believe based on this platform there will be room for a BOF Bronco and Wrangler fighter.
Income rating it with global sales it could be a good vehicle to build along side the Colorado.
Chevrolet offers a very different global line up/image than in the US and China. I fully understand the need for GEM vehicles in emerging markets but expected more global offering by now made affordable and profitable via scale especially with the advent of kit architectures.
The rebadging of Chinese cars as Chevrolet is really odd. Why not simply offer the full Buick line up as Chevrolet in Europe and make it all the more confusing.
DE NO SER POR UN UN FALLO PRESENTADO EN EL RADIO MY LINK, Y EL CUAL LA CONCESIONARIA NO QUISO HACERSE RESPONSABLE, LE DARIA UNA CALIFICACION DE UN 100%. A LO LARGO DE MI VIDA HE COMPRADO VARIAS MARCAS DE AUTOS, PERO SINCERAMENTE LUEGO DE MANEJAR MI TRAILBLAZER LTZ, JAMAS CAMBIARIA DE MARCA, ES UN EXCELENTE 4X4 UN VERDADERO TANQUE PARA REALIZAR OFF ROAD Y EN CIUDAD EL VEHICULO SE COMPORTA COMO UN SEDAN PORQUE ES UN VEHÍCULO HECHO PARA EL DISFRUTE CON LA FAMILIA O AMIGOS.
ESTOY ANSIOSO POR CONOCER LAS NOVEDADES DE LA NUEVA VERSIÓN Y SINO, TOMARIA LA DECISION DE SUBIR DE NIVEL Y CAMBIAR A LA NUEVA TRAVERSE AWD. PARA MI GUSTO, ES MUCHO MEJOR CHEVROLET POR MUCHO.
The new trailblazer from brasil is way better than this pile of crap cuv from america, this and the new blazer cuv are a disgrace to the classic names.
They both have their markets. The one from South America needs to be redone for here. It is not really to our market needs and the design is like a bad Toyota.
It needs adapted just as the trucks did.
We need their Trailblazer but with a new name here in America.
I live in Brazil, and our Trailblazer is the same as the old 2008 GMC Acadia
I think the Maverick will do well. I agree that it should be rwd, but if people are looking for a little truck they may over look that issue. Majority of people don’t really know or care about drive. Most just want a small truck to run errands so why load all the options to drive locally?
I was hoping GM would finally start bringing the Silverado, as Ram has been selling their 2500’s and 1500 Rebel’s like hot cakes.
But I guess they have other priorities.
I hope that new model will be available in Philippines
BOF Trailblazer would be a nice addition to the GMC line-up. New Jimmy?