Which GM Sedans Are on the Chopping Block After Plant Closures?

GM has revealed exactly when the cars produced at the three factories that will become unallocated in 2019 will stop being produced. While the fates of the plants are clear, the fate of the vehicles is a little less so.

The Chevrolet Volt, Chevrolet Cruze, and the Buick LaCrosse will stop being produced in March 2019, CT6 production will stop in June, and the Impala and the XTS will stop production in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to a document first shared by Jalopnik.

Although the timeline indicates that the CT6’s Hamtramck production will end on June 1, 2019. Whether or not you’ll be able to buy a CT6 in 2020 (and beyond) is still something of a mystery. Although GM previously went through the trouble of announcing that the CT6 Hybrid was being discontinued, it made no mention of the regular CT6.

The CT6 is also produced in Jinquiao, China, and the LaCrosse is also produced in Korea. GM has kept mum about international production. While GM could discontinue both models, their youth (the Cadillac started production in 2016 and the LaCrosse’s started in 2017) would make killing them completely feel wasteful.

GM could also simply decide to stop selling them in the US and sell them only abroad. China’s appetite for sedans hasn’t abated quite as much as America’s, after all.

The Cruze, too, is assembled in many international plants, so its American production may be the only one ending.

The Impala, meanwhile, is only built in Michigan and Ontario, so there’s little doubt that this is the Impala’s death knell. The XTS, it seems likely, will suffer the same fate.

And while the fate of several of the vehicles remains a little mysterious, like the Volt, it is noteworthy that all of the vehicles announced for discontinuation are sedans. The market for capital C cars has been shrinking quickly lately and many of GM’s competitors have all but given up on them. Chrysler has stopped producing small sedans, while Ford stopped producing sedans altogether.

It remains a shock to see these vehicles leave so soon, though, as they weren’t particularly old and GM had indicated in the past that it wanted to pick up the sedan sales its competitors were abandoning. A drive away from volume toward profit, though, appears to have tipped the scales against the sedan (in North America, at least).

Intriguingly, GM’s Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas has been spared, despite only producing the Malibu. That car is also produced in Shanghai, South Korea, and Uzbekistan.

GM hasn’t quite revealed what its product plans are following these announcements. And while the news doesn’t appear to be good for any of them, whether this means more imports, a smaller product portfolio in North America, or just fewer GM cars, in general, remains unclear. We’ll keep following this story as it unfolds.

From GMInsideNews.com