A week makes a difference

It’s been a pretty darned good week for the General Motors Lordstown plant.

Just a week ago, we editorialized in hope of a short strike against General Motors by members of the United Auto Workers. We also noted that the Associated Press was reporting that continued production at Lordstown was a specific element in the international union’s demand for job security for UAW workers.

That was last Tuesday.

In the meantime, the strike was ended in just two days, it was reported that the contract did, indeed, contain specific language regarding a new product for the Lordstown plant, and, auto analysts are already confidently predicting what those likely new products will be. And one of them is an American icon — a Cadillac.

The Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 are scheduled to be produced at Lordstown only until 2009. That’s been known for sometime.

What analysts see

Now, analysts are saying that Lordstown will likely get an all new American-made small Chevrolet model, which would presumably replace the Korean-made Aveo. The plant would also likely take on production of two new mid-sized models, a Pontiac and a Cadillac in 2010.

This is all based on well-informed speculation by industry analysts. There has been no confirmation from the company. But the degree of specificity lends credence to what the analysts are saying.

Producing a Cadillac at Lordstown would be especially sweet because one of the strongest emerging markets for GM’s premiere nameplate is China.

Business Week has reported GM wants to make China the No. 2 Cadillac market in the world. It won’t be easy breaking down a market that is dominated by Audi and Lexus, but the upscale market in China is expected to more than double by 2010, to 380,000 cars a year.

The image of Lordstown-built Cadillacs driving out of Chinese showrooms (there are already 37 Cadillac dealerships in China) is irresistible.

Closer to home there was other good news for Lordstown of a more immediate nature.

Sales of the Cobalt increased 30 percent in September and G5 sales jumped 55 percent. And jumping back to the possible future, the new Cadillac CTS had a 73 percent increase in sales.

All of this is very encouraging, but there are still a lot of T’s to cross and i’s to dot before Lordstown’s future is written — including some that will be in language hammered out by the company and union in local contract negotiations.