I Bin Therbefor

"The Kentucky Economic Development Funding Authority approved up to $7.5M in state tax offsets over the next eight years for a potential $131M project at General Motors' Bowling Green site at its monthly meeting in late March.

At that time, GM would say publicly only that it was pleased Kentucky officials approved the incentive package, said Andrea Hales, communication manager at Bowling Green Assembly. The Kentucky plant is only one of several sites GM is considering for the project, she said then, adding that the project involves adding a new production line for a vehicle that GM is not identifying.Under the incentives approved by KEDFA in March, GM would have to maintain a minimum of 449 full-time Kentucky-resident employees to earn the tax breaks. The KEDFA agenda item lists $113.6M in equipment costs, $4.7M in building improvements and $12.8M in other start-up costs for GM in connection with the project.

The investment primarily involves refurbishment of the plant, according to the KEDFA agenda, which states that General Motors "is considering adding a new vehicle product program to its existing Bowling Green facility."The incentives became part of "developing a business case" for Bowling Green Assembly inside GM for decision makers, Hales said. Other GM sites being considered were not identified. There is no specific timetable for GM's decision making process, she said.

GM has 457 employees with a $36.5 million total payroll at its 1 million s.f. facility in Bowling Green, which has been sole production site for the Corvette sport car since 1981, according to the company's website. Workers produced 15,791 Corvettes there in 2010."

This press announcement preceeds the announcement at BG but addes some interesting info. Two points, adding 250 employees at BG as Reuss said increases the current work force by over 50%. IMO that isn't needed for the Corvette unless a whole lot of out sourced stuff is being brought in house. Second, what's this about adding a new vehicle product program? Actually makes more sense that the 250 people are being added for the new vehicle product program rather than for the C7. So what new vehicle is being added?

range96

New production line to use the XLR space? By another Cadillac convertible perhaps?

BSSN

They are paying to air-condition a MASSIVE empty space. Makes sense to use it.

VETTE-NV

Certainly possible, but there's been no talk at all of a successor to the XLR, and GM has been pretty vocal of late as to Cadillac's future plans. Interesting, to say the least.

range96

Beats the other alternative: C7 with a 4 Cyl turbo sold for $29K producing 50,000 units, requiring a second assembly line.

JQuest54

Maybe some sort of economy car like the Cruze. This way when Corvette production goes low they can shift employees to the high volume line of the economy car.

petermj

4 door vette

range96

or a station wagon

Joni Lynn

I doubt there's any way they would build a mid engine Caddy there.............is there?

petermj

Mid engine means motor behind front axle(s) and not necessarily behind the driver, thus, this is very likely IF vette goes this way. However, considering this is Obama Motors, "eco friendly" hybrid would be a better bet.

petermj

Not enough doors and seats though... Maybe per Obama's order, the second line will be there to graft vette nose on CTS. CTS already comes as a station wagon with the proper number of doors

C6-Stingray

I would love to see a new C7 based Cadillac XLR that would be great GM doesnt have luxury roadster to compete with it's rivals.

ColeTrain'sC5

The thing that killed me with the XLR is the Northstar engines.

SCM_Crash

And it only came in an auto.

range96

and the $100K price tag for an anemic version.

30YR W8T

I have read that about three times and keep coming back to the same thing that was highlighted, still leaves some questions.

"the project involves adding a new production line for a vehicle that GM is not identifying"

Does that mean for an existing vehicle or for a new vehicle? It only states a new production line, not a new vehicle.

"adding a new vehicle product program "

This one could lead you to believe it is a new vehicle or is it something new (product) for an existing vehicle?

Now wouldn't it be cool if this new line was being built for a car that could be special ordered just exactly the way an owner wanted it, while the other line built the same car but the standard order cars.

BSSN

Cool, but about as likely as the world ending tomorrow. Errr...in 30 min. VET.

VETTE-NV

The supercharged version was a pretty decent performer. I briefly drove one and for some reason the car actually had less leg room than the C6. I'm 6'3" and I can fit fine the Vette but I could not get comfortable in the Caddy. Nice car, though.

C6-Stingray

Its because the XLR needs more space in the trunk to fit the retractable top in there.
But still for $100k at least they should put a corvettes engine in it.

I Bin Therbefor

At BG there is an existing production line not in use that handles the Corvette chassis architecture - 2-3-2. That is the old XLR line. If GM is to introduce a new product line, the least expensive way to do so would be to utilize that line.

Does that mean the new product line will use the Corvette chassis architecture?

At present, some 450 workers maintain a production of Corvetts at about 12,000 plus a year. What can the new 250 workers do in terms of production volume? It's not a straight proportion as the use of the same Corvette architecture would mean that the chassis will come from the same chassis shop and the car will use the same paint shop. Still, you'd think the volume would be no more than 12000 a year, if that. So, we're not talking about a high volume model. That leaves out a "small" Corvette ala Soltice or Sky. That also makes a new Cad look very doable from a least cost point of view.

Engines are not a problem as the use of the LS architecture would be acceptable.

As more info becomes available on the exact captial investments we should know more.