AutoReporter

Chevrolet Cruze introduction just weeks away, General Motors’ Flint Engine South gearing up as sole U.S. source of turbocharged engines



FLINT — The Chevrolet Volt engine that’s being built at Flint Engine South gets all the attention, but the powertrain for General Motors humble Cruze, a new compact car that’s headed to dealer showrooms this month, could end up as the real job producer here.

“The Volt is the main attraction,” said Terry Everman, shop chairman for UAW Local 599. “Everyone is standing in line for a chance to take a ride,” but the Cruze engine “is going to be big.”

“I hope it sells like a bat out of hell.”
Local 599 members are already building pre-pilot test versions of the 1.4-liter turbocharged engines for the Cruze and regular production is expected to start in November on the same line that will also turn out the gasoline add-on engine for the electric Volt.

They’ve even asked dealers to purchase competing vehicles so that customers can compare them to the Cruze, which GM expects will reach 40 mpg on the highway with its Flint-built powertrain.

The fallout for Flint could be more demand for the 1.4-liter engine and more jobs at Flint Engine South, where hundreds of workers about to be laid off from Powertrain Flint North will be waiting to be called back to a job.

Among the reasons to hope for big things from the Cruze engine:

• GM expects 70 percent of the new compacts sold will include the 1.4-liter turbo engine rather than a 1.8-liter engine that’s built in Mexico. Flint is the only U.S. plant building the 1.4-liter turbo.

• Chevrolet is promising a strong marketing push for the Cruze, which will have a starting sticker price of $16,995. “We’re going to support it in a very big way,” said Margaret Brooks, Chevrolet marketing director for small cars. “The plan is basically for the Cruze to be everywhere.”

• The 1.4-liter Cruze engine could eventually be used in other vehicles, including the Chevy Aevo, according to company and union officials, who would also like to see production of the 1.8-liter standard engine moved here. The 1.4-liter turbo engines in the first Cruzes are coming from Europe with production shifting to Flint later this year and next.

Brooks would not say how many Cruzes Chevy plans to build, and Flint-based GM spokesman Tom Wickham would only said 80 employees at Flint South are already working on the Volt-Cruze line.

Wickham said the turbo engine is expected to make up a higher percentage of the line’s production. The company told Local 599 employees just last week that 70 of 400 remaining employees at Flint North will transfer to Flint South in November, leaving 330 to be paid off.

“We are not providing a timetable or numbers at this time” of how many of those 330 will eventually transfer to Flint South, Wickham said in an e-mail to The Flint Journal.

But Everman said overall production is expected to start at a rate of 100 engines per day, advancing to 400 and jumping to 800 by spring 2011. At that time, the hourly workforce on the line is projected to total 280, according to the union.

With retirements expected from some Local 599 members, Everman said all of the laid off workers who want to continue at GM should be back on the job within a year.

Chevrolet briefed reporters on the Cruze last week, promoting the car’s fuel economy, roominess, safety features like 10 standard air bags, and amenities compact car buyers haven’t seen before.

The 1.4-liter engine “performs like a larger engine when needed, but retains the efficiency of a small-displacement four-cylinder in most driving conditions,” the company said in promotional materials.

Flint Metal Center, the GM stamping plant on West Bristol Road, is also producing body parts for the vehicle.

The Cruze is been sold outside the U.S. for about 18 months. The U.S. and Canadian versions of the Cruze are being built in Lordstown, Ohio, where $350 million was invested for production.

GM invested $250 million in the new Flint South engine line to produce compact powertrains called “Family Zero.” The company said in early 2009 that the line would have approximately 150 highly flexible stations that will allow production of multiple 4-cylinder engine families without retooling.

[source]



More...