Though the news comes just days before General Motors is expected to announce the closure of up to 14 plants, the Detroit automaker says that it will reopen one of its idled assembly plants to begin production of the upcoming Chevrolet Spark for domestic and export markets.
GM has not announced which plant will be reopened, though rumors point towards Janesville, Wisconsin, which built GMT900 SUVs until late last year, or Moraine, Ohio, which built variants of the GMT360 (TrailBlazer) platform until late last year. GM could also reopen one of the plants whose closure announcement is expected on Monday.
GM is expected to close the Wilmington, Delaware, plant that currently builds the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice, as well as the Shreveport, Louisiana, plant that builds the Hummer H3 and Chevrolet Colorado / GMC Canyon . Either of those plants are likely candidates for retooling. GM says it will build up to 160,000 cars in the plant annually.
Though GM hasn’t specifically said the unnamed small car will be the Spark, it is the only new sub- Chevrolet Cruze car destined for the North American market. A media release issued by the automaker this morning says that the small car will help boost GM’s U.S. lineup to more than 70 percent domestic-built products.
“Small cars represent one of the fastest growing segments in both the U.S. and around the world,” said Fritz Henderson, GM President and CEO, in the statement. “We believe this car will be a winner with our current and future customers in the U.S.”
