April 1, 2008 -- A $690-million retooling of General Motors' (GM) Spring Hill assembly plant to accommodate the September launch of the new Chevrolet Traverse large crossover utility vehicle (CUV) is underway. In order to keep costs to a minimum for the retooling, bigger paint booths and ovens are being shipped in from the shuttered Oklahoma City sport utility vehicle (SUV) plant.
On-site plastic body panel manufacturing, required for the plastic-bodied early-model Saturns, is being switched to steel panel manufacturing for the Traverse. The decision to reopen the plant to make the Traverse, which replaces the Chevrolet Uplander minivan as well as the TrailBlazer traditional SUV, will result in production there of at least 100,000 units, however, the plant could easily then be tooled up to produce any of the other three popular CUVs built from that platform and sold under other nameplates.
Abstracted from Global Insight Daily Analysis
