Lack of funds and an overall turbulent market have shelved plenty of new car ideas, but General Motors’ Epsilon II revolution is still on, albeit at a slightly slower pace than originally anticipated. As the name implies, GM’s Epsilon II architecture is slated to replace the company’s Epsilon platform, but could also stretch to underpin some larger models.
Sadly, General Motors COO Fritz Henderson told reporters at the Paris Motor Show that GM has no plans to send minicars to the U.S. Lack of demand and stringent crash-safety regulations seem to be the company’s main determining factors. According to Henderson, although he recognizes the popularity of the Smart cars, he believes that this is only a phenomenon and doesn’t feel that there is a place for similar sized Chevrolet cars in the U.S. market.
This weekend’s story about General Motors and Chrysler merger talks seemed like a shock. But as it turns out, it’s more like closing time and GM is looking to take anyone desperate home from the bar. According to the New York Times, GM and Ford began merger talks in July. When the talks broke down last month, GM turned its bar stool to the other side and started to see if Chrysler wanted to go home with it.
General Motors will close its Moraine Assembly plant near Dayton, Ohio on December 23rd — earlier than the planned 2010 closure. The plant builds the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, Isuzu Ascender, and Saab 9-7X. Less than 80 days away, the closing will mark the demise of all four models.
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General Motors is planning to trim several billion from the expenditures side of the ledger in the coming years, which means further job cuts are inevitable. However, this time GM is sparing its hourly workers from the guillotine and is instead focusing on salaried workers.
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