Chevys Replace Saturns in Spring Hill, Tenn.
March 30, 2007

General Motors told employees at its Spring Hill, Tenn., plant that the factory will get a new product to replace two Saturn models, which end production today.

It sounds like the Tennessee plant will get the new Chevrolet crossover vehicle, based on the same architecture as the recently introduced Saturn Outlook and GMC Acadia and the upcoming Buick Enclave. Edmunds.com’s Inside Line reported this week that the Chevy crossover in the works for the 2009 model year may be called "Nomad," reviving a storied nameplate that dates back to the 1950s and a 2004 concept vehicle.

The Spring Hill, Tenn., plant was built specifically to produce Saturns in the 1980s. Saturn was created by GM in the 1980s to rethink everything about the industry, from how cars were developed and manufactured to how they are sold. The Spring Hill plant borrowed the best, innovative ideas from all over the world, from its environmental aspects to its management. Its management-worker relationship was unique in that UAW-represented workers had their own specific contract and participated in high-level decision making.

The Spring Hill plant also was the the site of Saturn Homecomings, events to which Saturn owners were invited. They were like country fairs with big-name entertainment and plant tours.

The Chevy crossover will be a seven-seater with unibody construction that will replace the slow-selling Chevrolet Uplander. Sources told Inside Line that Chevrolet believes returning to retro names -- although not to retro styling -- is the way to win consumers

Nomad originally was used on a Chevrolet station wagon, most notably in its two-door form that was on the market from 1955-'57. That landmark Chevrolet Nomad was styled more like a hardtop than a station wagon and could arguably be described as a kind of primitive "crossover." The Nomad design was an offshoot of a 1954 GM Motorama show car of the same name that was based on the Corvette. Chevrolet also revived the Nomad name on a 2004 concept vehicle off the Kappa platform that featured a removable rear roof panel and a folding tailgate.

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