1.) The Orlando is the MPV7 mentioned in last year’s UAW documents, and always has been. A total revamp of a product design as LLN implies does not happen overnight like this.

2.) GM did not intend to sell the MPV7 in the US, just build it for export. That was rumored to change only recently as high gas prices made compact MPVs emulating GM’s Zafira far more popular in North America.

3.) GM Daewoo has capacity constraints after several years of double digit growth in exports. This is why GM is building new plants and forming production alliances all over Eastern Europe and Central Asia to meet demand, and why the Orlando was to be built in NA to begin with. Importing a vehicle from Korea is not an option.

4.) The Orlando replaces the Daewoo Rezzo/Tacuma (aka Chevrolet Vivant), so there is no “other” vehicle to import anyway. This is it.

5.) Since it is not an SUV, but a compact van, and was not intended to be sold in the US, it is not an HHR replacement. There is a new compact SUV coming, but it is not based on Delta (Global Compact Car), but Gamma (Global Small Car).

6.) Saturn was expected to get a larger MPV/MAV based on the lwb Theta platform, not the Zafira. This project may have been canceled, perhaps prescient given declining sales of existing models in the midsize segment such as the Renault Espace.

GM may have decided not to build the Orlando in Hamtramck (perhaps to make room for expanded Volt and Cruze production), but they are still building it.

I applaud GM. It’s all about identifying your strengths and weaknesses. Face the facts: GM never could build a small car worth a sh*t, plain and simple.