GM Bankruptcy: Corvette Plant Safe (for now)

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Corvette's on the assembly line in Bowling Green

As expected, General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this morning in New York. The 100 year old company lists $82 billion in assets and $172 billion in debts. On the positive side, the Corvette plant in Bowling Green was not on the list of the 14 plants that General Motors will close as part of the bankruptcy reorganization.

Tim Lee, Vice President of Manufacturing for GM North America says the company has “100% confidence” in the Corvette and is pleased with the Bowling Green Assembly Plant where the Corvette is made. Speaking in a conference call with media, Lee said the company plans to build the car based on customer demand while noting that demand isn’t great “right now”.

Lee called the Corvette “very, very profitable” and said the Bowling Green plan should continue to annually produce between 35,000 and 50,000 cars.

That figure does seems like a distant memory: 35,310 Corvettes were produced in 2008 but the 2009 production total is expected to be about half that. There is currently no indication that another model will replace the Cadillac XLR which was also built at the plant but was discontinued earlier this year.

The Bowling Green Assembly Plant was also expected to become the home of the Saturn Sky and the Pontiac Solstice in 2012, but those models are expected to be sold or discontinued as part of the reorganization that will focus on the four key brands: Chevy, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.

The Corvette plant is currently closed for a planned two week hiatus.


Source:
Bowling Green Daily News

Related:
More Corvette Comments from GM CEO Henderson
[VIDEO] GM CEO Fritz Henderson Discusses Corvette’s Future
[VIDEO] 2010 Corvette ZR1’s Performance Traction Management System

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