GM Stops Medium-Duty Truck Production

Yahoo! Finance:

DETROIT -- General Motors says it will stop making medium-duty trucks by July 31 because it was unable to find a buyer for the operations.

The company says in a statement that it will wind down production of the Chevrolet Kodiak and GMC Topkick trucks after searching for a buyer for four years.

Both trucks are built at the Flint, Mich., Assembly plant, which also builds the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

The factory employs about 2,100 people, with most of its production in pickups. Last year it made more than 22,000 medium-duty trucks for GM and Isuzu, and almost 73,000 pickups.

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Medium-duty trucks normally are built for commercial use such as dump trucks.

Read the whole story: Yahoo! Finance

Comments

[obamabiden2011]

Total credit market debt as a percentage of GDP has risen from 130% of GDP in 1952 to 350% of GDP today. The various bailout and stimulus schemes enacted in the last year will drive this percentage above 400% in the near future. When a country allows this much debt to accumulate versus its GDP, they have done something seriously wrong. The country’s politicians, business leaders, and citizens have all contributed to this disaster.

good articles..­. http://kl.am/tsc recommended reading

[jerrypl]

It is likely that there will be no GM. It will be called China Motors, at some point. Vehicle models will come and go. This shrinkage of midsized duty trucks maybe temporary depending on the market. Toyota seems to have taken it over, at this point. Ford will likely continue its model line. Who can afford buying a truck or even a new car now?

http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com

[Bushdepression]

Looks like the Bush Depression has slowly metastasized throughout the American economy. This is Obama's fourth month. Bush has 96 to wreck the economy. Looks like the Party That Wrecked America has broken it.

[themodernleader]

The Obama Team solution: Quit making anything of value. Re-educate competent manufactruring jobless millions to manage huge welfare bureaucracies to attend the needs of the unemployed and to really educated their children for the welfare jobs arising in the next generation. The age of the bureaucrat will replace the age of innovation and production. The men of words will replace the men of action

[ming099]

.........t­hey should stop making the Chevy Avalanche too.......­.......ugl­iest dam.n pickup i have ever seen.....

[ErnestineBass]

Ain't that the truth! The first time I saw one I burst out laughing..­.right in front of its owner.

Needless to say, he was NOT amused.

[smiththomas]

Obama is getting them to switch from midsize trucks to electric cars the size of a pack of gum

[nowarpleez]

You know after listening to POTUS speech in Cairo last week I realized that Al Qaeda and the Republican party are indirect allies. They both want Obama to fail and they need each other to survive. I heard Limbaugh tell his listeners not to buy a GM or Chrysler vehicle in protest of Obama's attempt to save these companies. In other words, do not buy American cars; instead buy Japanese, German or Korean cars. He would rather see taxpayer dollars and jobs lost and an iconic American industry fail, than see Obama's policies to save our economy succeed. This is the most unAmerican thing I've heard in a long time. Limbaugh and bin Laden want the same things for America.

[CrzyRussell]

Spam

[jdfast]

If GM was really serious they would have slimmed down to one line ages ago. Same with the Chevy and GMC pick up truck and van lines. I just don't understand why they spend twice the money advertising the same truck year after year. The differences are cosmetic and mean nothing. Just one more example of the way GM has no idea or vision what they want to do and what direction they want to take the company. We already sunk 20 billion (we've lost that) and now are going to drop another 30 billion into a company with no future or leadership. Ain't the bail out just great. How long are our kids and grand kids going to work to pay of the first 20 billion. But I almost forgot we get 60 percent for our next 30 billion. But, 60% of nothing is still nothing with my math.

[ladyvader]

I've always wondered that too.

And why are they keeping both? GMC can go away. It's nothing but trucks and SUVs. Chevy has it own line of trucks, which is the same as the GMC trucks. I don't see a reason to have both. Not if they are "slimming" down.

[Francis99]

The scary part is I've never heard of or seen either of these models. Perhaps stopping production won't be a big thing then.

[Ratfink1]

I never understood how they had a market for A Chevy line of trucks and a GMC line of trucks which were identical except for badging. There isn't a GMC line of cars.

[x2zero]

Wow, I thought the one thing they could do well was make trucks, if the truck division is in trouble their car divisions are f***ed

[drumz]

You've never owned a Ford truck then. I have owned 4 Ford trucks over the years and all of them were great (2 rANGERS AND 2 f-100'S) and lived long lives after I sold them (except for the last one that got totaled when some idjut made a U-turn right in front of my son on a bridge).

My next truck will be a Ford too.

[KillTheMessenger]

OK... so if Ford trucks are great, then GM trucks had fierce competitio­n... which is probably why they aren't doing so well... ?

[jdfast]

I was a chevy pickup man but with all the BS going on with the piece of s00t that they call their new Silverado I am fed up. GM has been at the trough for a long time and Ford has not. Its time to support an American company that has held its own and has some leadership and direction.

[sassafra]

ford makes excellent trucks that put gm to shame. no loss.

[Lilith33]

GM in china will be building the electric car.They will also be building buses ect.Think theyll get the hummer electric?Now we know why they killed it in the U.S.

[sarabono]

The Hummer Group was purchased by a front company for the Chinese Military.

[planetjeffy]

Joke is on them (and you). Hummers have nothing to do with our military vehicles - they are giant chevys with a make believe wrapper and krappy gas mileage. Sales are 30% of their peak.

[DRaymond]

Here is the more complete version of the article.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GM_MEDIUM_DUTY_TRUCKS?SITE=OHCIN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

If you read it a couple of things becomes clear. They have been trying to sell it for the last four years. Their market is small businesses and sales were down 30 to 40 percent from 2007 to 2008 and have not recovered. But they were also hurt by having a single truck model against competitors with broader product lines (which may explain why it proved impossible to sell the business). The other major US competitors are Navistar (International Harvester), Izuzu, Freightliner, Volvo, Peterbilt, Kenworth, and Mack. So apart from izuzu and Volvo those are all solid US companies.

[notAMoron]

Where is T. Boone Pickens? Breakout the checkbook, part of the key to his plan is for medium duty trucks like this to be converted to Natural Gas. He could have this line converted to a natural gas line within a year and we could be reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

[sc300nc]

T Boone doesn't want to spend any of his money, he wants to spend our money, taking a little for himself along the way.

[drumz]

Precisely.

[ErnestineBass]

Yep.

[sarabono]

Nat Gas is really good for in town commercial fleets like buses or taxi cabs. Not so good for trucks that head out of town with no fueling station readily available.

[sc300nc]

BOGO sale...I smell a BOGO sale.