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Traversal of fortune: GM to halt Chevy Traverse output for 2 months to change factories
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2010 Chevrolet Traverse is packing up its things and moving to Michigan!
So long Tennessee! General Motors is moving production of the Chevrolet Traverse from its Spring Hill facility, a former Saturn plant, to its Delta Township assembly plant in Michigan. This move will consolidate production of all Lambda crossovers in one facility: Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and the Saturn Outlook.
View a gallery of the Lambda crossovers and the Delta Township assembly line in the slideshow below.
The Lansing Delta Township assembly plant sports some serious environmental credibility. For example, the roof of the plant is painted in a reflective white coating that prevents the air outside the building from heating up and potentially harming nearby flora and fauna (I’ve been itching to say flora and fauna all day). That very same roof also collects rainwater to flush toilets. As my friend used to say, “As long is the water in the drinking fountain doesn’t go up when someone flushes the toilet, I don’t care what they do to save water.”
Chevrolet dealers have no reason for alarm as GM is boosting production of the Chevrolet Traverse prior to the plant switchover. When July closed out, there was a 68 day supply of Chevrolet Traverses in the pipeline. GM will continue to manufacture the Traverse in Tennessee until mid-to-late November according to a spokesman interviewed by Automotive News.
It can be successfully argued that GM never really needed four flavors of this crossover, but that will be changing in the not so distant future. While GM will continue to build the Saturn Outlook for Penske in the short-term, eventually he will have to make other arrangements. What is uncertain to me is whether or not Cadillac will want a piece of this action when it comes time to replace the Escalade. GM has done a much better job of differentiation as of late, but if this move comes to pass it will once again boost the tally back to four.
I spoke with a GM designer recently at a Buick event and I asked him if the 2012 (estimated) refresh of the Enclave would be a nip/tuck or a full boat refresh. The designer said that he felt GM was going to “Do it right” and produce a substantially changed model.
The Lambda crossovers have managed to do something that the minivans they replaced could never do: Connect with customers. I think that the timing of the Lambda’s was one of the best moves GM has made in years. The company timed its exit from the minivan segment at just the right time when the crossover market was really taking off. To make matters even better, the products were competitive from the get go with attractive styling and great attention to consumer wants and needs. For example, after several ho-hum products such as the Buick Rainer, Buick Rendezvous (the Pontiac Aztek's better looking sister) and (shudder) Buick Terraza, the Buick Enclave was extremely well received and began the brand’s transformation towards appealing to a younger consumer.
General Motors estimates that the Chevrolet Traverse switchover should take two months to complete. In my estimation, that would make February 2010 the likely go-live date for the Traverse in its new home.
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