Start of Cruze means phase-out of Cobalt

“We’re here to stay as a company, and we’re here to stay certainly in this part of Ohio.”

So says Ed Peper, General Motors North America vice president of Chevrolet, when asked today about the company’s future in Lordstown.

“The Mahoning Valley, this whole region, this plant has been producing cars for GM for over 40 years,” he said. “It’s a loyal GM area.”

Peper described the new Chevy Cruze as the first in a new line of vehicles between small- and mid-size cars with “tremendous fuel economy.”

“It will be a tweener vehicle” between the small- and mid-sided cars. And, “it will have the best fuel economy in the small market segment.”

When the Cruze begins production in mid-2010, the Lordstown plant will quickly phase out production of the Chevrolet Cobalt, he said. That process should take less than a month.

Peper declined to comment on the fate of the Pontiac G5, which is also made in Lordstown.