GM Trims Lucerne, DTS Production
March 23, 2007

Buick General Manager Steve Shannon told the Automotive Press Association this week that 2007 was Buick’s breakout year and boasted about the 96,000 Lucernes the General Motors division sold last year.

However, sales of the Lucerne –- along with the Cadillac DTS (formerly known as DeVille) -– have slowed to the point that GM is trimming production. The Detroit Hamtramck plant that produces the two cars will shut down next week in an effort to keep inventories from bloating due to slower sales of the cars.

Insiders worry about the long-term prospects for the Detroit plant, because of the slow sales of the vehicles it produces and no future plan outlined for the plant by GM management.

Cadillac continues to hold onto the DTS, which really represents the old, not the new, Cadillac, as represented by the CTS and Escalade. Though the DTS seems a misfit in Cadillac's freshened line, the division is reluctant to ditch it because its buyer base is a loyal one, though it is an aged one.

The construction of the Detroit Hamtramck plant that makes the DeVille and Lucerne, built in the 1980s, was extremely controversial, triggering protests because it was in the heart of Detroit’s Polish community and caused dislocation of residents. At the time, it was exclusively a Cadillac plant and one of GM’s most highly automated, with unmanned automated guided vehicles carrying around parts. However, some of GM’s high-tech plans had to be discarded when they went awry.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:04 AM under Commentary , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine