I believe the one issue which has been sadly over estimated is the sales potential of this product line. However GM came up with the numbers for production quotas and is now moving away from actual sales...and getting worse. Supply exceeding demand has dealers loaded w/inventory, the Craft Center on layoff, and possible extention of that down time.
Vehicle price was factored in the initial production determination. Producing 70 vehicles a day was the decision to meet expected sales demand. Sales demand appeared correct until the '05 model came into existence. Now, two Model Years (MY) are available, but the '05 offers a new engine, for about the same price as an '04. Who is going to buy the remainder of the '04's??? A GM discount spurred some '04 sales, but not the kind of inventory movement to continue to match output production.
Some 6000 vehicles (guesstimate from previous thread numbers) now in showrooms not being sold. New production outputs when the Centre resumes working, should be closer to 40 units per day. Naturally less workers are needed for lower production numbers; now layoffs are projected.
Redressing the production output appears to be the only way to match up with sales. There are not enough fringe buyers out there to purchase an SSR even if the price was lowered to $35,000. The SSR is a distinct and individual vehicle. If GM is to sustain the vehicle line through future production years, it has to be based on historical sales. If it costs more (which I doubt) to produce fewer then so be it. I, for one, would prefer to keep it that way.
P/P
Peace
