Kappa Plant: Third Shift Eliminated

[Ahnuld]

GM plant to eliminate third shift
delawareonline ¦ The News Journal, Wilmington, Del. ¦ GM plant to eliminate third shift


In a move to cut production costs to match slower sales, General Motors plans to eliminate the third shift at its Boxwood Road assembly plant, the company confirmed Wednesday.


GM sold 16,779 Solstices in 2007, down from 19,710 the year before, and 11,263 Skys in 2007, compared with 8,671 in 2006. The model debuted in March 2006.

He forecasts sales of the Solstice to fall to 15,000 this year, and sales of the Sky to drop to between 8,000 and 8,500.

[MidniteBlues]

Certainly expected considering the state of our economy. I'm sure it's not just GM effected, it's probably across the board affecting all car makers. Not just cars however, everything is on a down turn at the moment. Who's going to buy a roadster (or any car/truck) for that matter in these times?, when you are trying to keep your home? In these uncertain times, IMHO, people pull back and try NOT to spend any money on any unnecessary items. We certainly have, and walked away on a some what decent deal on a 08 Redline Sky.. That is reality... For us at least, some stability IS in order, since my family was one of those affected by the housing market evaporation... Prudence dictates a cautious approach on spending our hard earned bucks at the moment on anything, I don't like it, but for us, it is VERY wise decision on our part for the moment. We still are maintaining our lifestyle, although, we are not traveling and going out to dinners as frequently as we use to, for the moment any ways..

I believe in the philosophy that what goes down certainly at some point will go up...

[southernSKYS]

This really sucks for the people on the 3rd shift, but on the bright side, if they produce less Skys they will remain a very rare car.

[SSRL]

It is nice to have an exclusive car, however I would hate to see the SKYs production die in the coming years.

I am not sure that its exclusive to have a car that is only made for 2 years because of a decline in sales. The Dodge neon srt-4 is a great example.

[SkyRunner]

Sucks all those people are losing there jobs, the neon SRT4 was a limited run production thats why it was only out for 2 years. Then the Caliber took over the neon line and now the caliber has the SRT 4 line out and this will only be a limited run too. Same with the Charger SRT 8 was a limited run hehe. Now the challenger took over the SRT 8 name and will only run for a year before its gone.

I just hope the economy comes back.

[SSRL]

Gotcha Runner. Still would hate to see the SKY die

[rs0987654]

When GM set up the Wilmington Plant it invested only 150 million in equipment, which is a relatively low fixed price cost to make back. The variable content per car is very high. The platform has a relatively high labor content. What all of this means is that with 2 shifts and about 30,000 units from all four brands produced, GM will still be making money on this car, though not what it was making before. Don't forget that in about a year GM will be offering the Soltice Targa, which will add sales for the Kappa line.

[marlboromike]

To my surprise...the Solstice sold more units than the SKY. (2007)

[cfjara]

Originally Posted by rs0987654

When GM set up the Wilmington Plant it invested only 150 million in equipment, which is a relatively low fixed price cost to make back. The variable content per car is very high. The platform has a relatively high labor content. What all of this means is that with 2 shifts and about 30,000 units from all four brands produced, GM will still be making money on this car, though not what it was making before. Don't forget that in about a year GM will be offering the Soltice Targa, which will add sales for the Kappa line.

...we have a Business Major making sense of all this....

[GetAboutRL]

Most dealers have Kappa car overflow on their lots now.
Between new and used and economy, they can eliminate the third shift. But as other's have said, those folks being laid off at this time sucks. It must be like being between a wall and a hard place financially.

[dengel]

Originally Posted by marlboromike

To my surprise...the Solstice sold more units than the SKY. (2007)

That has always been GMs plan for the Kappa platform - twice as many Solstices as Skys. So does that mean you just never believed us before?

[OlSkyDriver]

Originally Posted by marlboromike

To my surprise...the Solstice sold more units than the SKY. (2007)

I believe part of the reason, is simply because SKY's were had to come by, with long wait times, and most Pontiac dealers had Sols in stock. I'm sure a lot of buyers opted for the Sol for that reason, rather then wait months for a SKY.

[dengel]

Originally Posted by OlSkyDriver

I believe part of the reason, is simply because SKY's were had to come by, with long wait times, and most Pontiac dealers had Sols in stock. I'm sure a lot of buyers opted for the Sol for that reason, rather then wait months for a SKY.

It has always been GMs plan to produce, and therefore sell, more Solstices than Skys. That is why planned production numbers for the Sky are less than that for the Solstice.

[Ahnuld]

Originally Posted by dengel

It has always been GMs plan to produce, and therefore sell, more Solstices than Skys. That is why planned production numbers for the Sky are less than that for the Solstice.

That's tied alot to there being 3 pontiac dealers for each Saturn.

that being said... what the guys are getting to really... is that the Sky is a much better looking car than the solstice, and we'd expect it to have caught up to pontiac by now.

[Bogie]

Keep in mind Wilmington was never anticipated to go to a third shift. It was planned as a two shift operation. They had to go three shifts to meet the "unexpected" demand. The ENTIRE FIRST YEAR of Solstice was locked before the first production car was built. They were a year behind before they started.

Dropping from three shifts back to two shifts isn't a sign of a wanning breed or a worsening economy, it's simply a sign that the demand has been fulfilled and the plant can return to producing at the original expectation.

Edit: Too much supply in cars like can be very bad:

1: It's attractive because it's unique. Too many hit the road, and the attractiveness fades, as do sales.
2. Too much supply forces manufacturer to offer incentives to move the product, which only hastens (1) above.
3. Offering incentives cuts profit margins, turning a profitable line into a losing line, stunting the ability to re-tool and continue the line.

GM needs a steady production to just undercut demand, maintaining the unique aura of the line. One of the best sales tactics is "it might not be here tomorrow". We know salesman use that for everything on the lot, but for the Kappas, you want it to be real.

[dengel]

Originally Posted by Ahnuld

That's tied alot to there being 3 pontiac dealers for each Saturn.

that being said... what the guys are getting to really... is that the Sky is a much better looking car than the solstice, and we'd expect it to have caught up to pontiac by now.

Yeah, I know what they're trying to say. I just don't need to resort to the "my car is better than your car" argument - I just let the numbers speak for themselves. And since GM is building more Solstices than Skys, then it seems the GM execs at least think the Solstice would be the better seller of the two.

[MidniteBlues]

Originally Posted by dengel

Yeah, I know what they're trying to say. I just don't need to resort to the "my car is better than your car" argument - I just let the numbers speak for themselves. And since GM is building more Solstices than Skys, then it seems the GM execs at least think the Solstice would be the better seller of the two.

Hey, thats GM's execs mistake, not us..

[BlueSkyRL]

Ok, someone please tell me what a "Soltice Targa" is??? I must of been driving in the SKY when that was anounced

[dengel]

Originally Posted by BlueSkyRL

Ok, someone please tell me what a "Soltice Targa" is??? I must of been driving in the SKY when that was anounced

The Solstice Targa is a hardtop coupe version of the Solstice with a "targa" top, similar to T-tops, scheduled for release in 2009 I believe. Targa is a very popular roof style seen in various sports cars, such as Porsche, Corvette, Camaro, etc.

Originally Posted by wikipedia

Targa top, targa for short, is a semi-convertible car body style with a removable roof section and a full width roll bar behind the seats. The rear window can be fixed or removable, making it a convertible type vehicle. In common usage, any piece of metal or trim which rises up from the side of a car and continues in an uninterrupted line over the roof and down the other side may be called a targa band, or sometimes a wrapover band. Targa tops are different from T-tops, which have a solid, non-removable bar running between the top of the windshield and the rear roll-bar.

There are a number of Solstice enthusiasts who have been hoping for a coupe version of the Solstice to come out, so hopefully this will satisfy their needs.

[Bogie]

Originally Posted by dengel

The Solstice Targa is a hardtop coupe version of the Solstice with a "targa" top, similar to T-tops, scheduled for release in 2009 I believe. Targa is a very popular roof style seen in various sports cars, such as Porsche, Corvette, Camaro, etc.



There are a number of Solstice enthusiasts who have been hoping for a coupe version of the Solstice to come out, so hopefully this will satisfy their needs.

The coupe was on Bob Lutz's radar scope for a while. Per the Pontiac Solstice book, he is quoted as saying that when the roadster aura begins to fade it might be a good time to introduce the coupe.
-TPSB, pg 93.