mikeyb
05-23-2006, 09:03 AM
General Motors (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/FREE/60522013/1024/LATESTNEWS#) is looking at low-cost production sites in Thailand, India and Mexico for a new global family of small crossover vehicles.
The five-passenger vehicles would be smaller than the Saturn Vue and Chevrolet Equinox (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/FREE/60522013/1024/LATESTNEWS#), GM Vice Chairman Robert Lutz said last week at a design event in Ruesselsheim, Germany. They would be marketed by Saturn, Opel and possibly GMC (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/FREE/60522013/1024/LATESTNEWS#) and Hummer.
"It won't be badge engineering," Lutz said. "We'll carefully protect the brand identities."
Still to be determined is the vehicle architecture. Once that and the assembly site are selected, production could begin in 37 months, Lutz said. The annual production target is 200,000 units.
Lutz said this new family of crossover vehicles cannot be assembled profitably in North America or western Europe. Also off the short list is South Korea, where the Chevrolet Aveo (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/FREE/60522013/1024/LATESTNEWS#) is assembled by GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co.
"As a production site, there's only Thailand, Mexico or India," he said. "Even South Korea is getting too expensive for us."
Jim Hall, an analyst at AutoPacific in Southfield, Mich., was surprised to hear GM wasn't considering South Korea -- or China, where the company has several joint ventures. Hall said GM may see the project "as a vehicle to make an entree into India, in which case you build it in India."
Lutz said a joint venture with another automaker (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/FREE/60522013/1024/LATESTNEWS#) is not part of the discussion.
"We first thought of alliance partners like Suzuki (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/FREE/60522013/1024/LATESTNEWS#)," he said. "But they all have different production methods. GM now puts strong emphasis on its own bill of process and bill of equipment."
GM's smallest crossover vehicles now are developed off the Theta architecture -- the Equinox, Vue, Pontiac Torrent, and the upcoming Chevrolet Captiva and Opel Antara. It also builds the Suzuki XL-7 on Theta. The architecture is used for a range of different-sized vehicles.
source:http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/FREE/60522013/1024/LATESTNEWS
The five-passenger vehicles would be smaller than the Saturn Vue and Chevrolet Equinox (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/FREE/60522013/1024/LATESTNEWS#), GM Vice Chairman Robert Lutz said last week at a design event in Ruesselsheim, Germany. They would be marketed by Saturn, Opel and possibly GMC (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/FREE/60522013/1024/LATESTNEWS#) and Hummer.
"It won't be badge engineering," Lutz said. "We'll carefully protect the brand identities."
Still to be determined is the vehicle architecture. Once that and the assembly site are selected, production could begin in 37 months, Lutz said. The annual production target is 200,000 units.
Lutz said this new family of crossover vehicles cannot be assembled profitably in North America or western Europe. Also off the short list is South Korea, where the Chevrolet Aveo (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/FREE/60522013/1024/LATESTNEWS#) is assembled by GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co.
"As a production site, there's only Thailand, Mexico or India," he said. "Even South Korea is getting too expensive for us."
Jim Hall, an analyst at AutoPacific in Southfield, Mich., was surprised to hear GM wasn't considering South Korea -- or China, where the company has several joint ventures. Hall said GM may see the project "as a vehicle to make an entree into India, in which case you build it in India."
Lutz said a joint venture with another automaker (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/FREE/60522013/1024/LATESTNEWS#) is not part of the discussion.
"We first thought of alliance partners like Suzuki (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/FREE/60522013/1024/LATESTNEWS#)," he said. "But they all have different production methods. GM now puts strong emphasis on its own bill of process and bill of equipment."
GM's smallest crossover vehicles now are developed off the Theta architecture -- the Equinox, Vue, Pontiac Torrent, and the upcoming Chevrolet Captiva and Opel Antara. It also builds the Suzuki XL-7 on Theta. The architecture is used for a range of different-sized vehicles.
source:http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/FREE/60522013/1024/LATESTNEWS