GM Plant Gets Up To 4 Products

General Motors Corp. may build up to four niche vehicles at its Lansing, MI, Craft Centre, a top company executive confirms to WAW.

The Craft Centre is preparing for Chevy SSR production, which is scheduled to begin in December. Early forecasts call for GM to sell 11,000 SSRs annually.

GM says the facility eventually will resemble Chrysler Group's Conner Avenue plant in Detroit, which makes the low-volume Dodge Viper and formerly built the Chrysler Prowler.

“The Craft Centre is going to be our specialty vehicle, low-volume product plant,” says Gary Cowger, GM North America president, during an interview at GM's world headquarters. “We think we can get up to four specialty vehicles there over time. SSR will be the first one.”

Due to the body shop's simplicity, Cowger says the Craft Centre could “batch build” or “sequence build” different vehicles. Possibilities include production versions of Buick Blackhawk and Chevy Bel Air.