GM Traverse production begins

SPRING HILL, Tenn. (AP) — General Motors Corp. on Friday officially launched full-scale production of the its new Chevrolet Traverse at its overhauled former Saturn plant on the outskirts of Nashville.

Troy A. Clarke, president of GM North America, said the eight-seat crossover will appeal to drivers of large SUVs and trucks seeking better fuel economy.

“This is a vehicle that’s got the interior space or utility of a Chevrolet Tahoe, but a much better fuel economy and a much tighter exterior package,” Clarke told reporters after a launch ceremony at the plant.

Clarke said the Traverse is poised to take advantage of a downsizing trend among consumers. Drivers tend to want to move down to smaller vehicles in increments, so most are not likely to want to skip from a larger SUV to a small car, he said.

“There’s an industry shift, where people are going from large sport-utility or truck vehicles to the next size down,” Clarke said. “The phenomena of fuel prices and affordability really shift the market down just a little bit.”

But the crossover market as a whole peaked this year in March, with all automakers selling 222,055, according to Autodata Corp. That number was down 29 percent in September, when sales totaled 157,163.

Crossover sales through the end of September have dropped 7 percent compared with the first nine months of 2007, according to Autodata. But that’s not as bad as truck and SUV sales as a whole, which are down 21 percent.

U.S. auto sales overall are down 13 percent through September.

GM says the two-wheel-drive Traverse’s fuel economy rating of 17 miles per gallon in city driving and 24 mpg on the highway — the all-wheel-drive version gets 1 mpg less — is the best in its segment. Generally, truck-based SUVs get in the low teens in city gas mileage and in the upper teens on the highway.

The Spring Hill plant produced more than 3.7 million Saturns between 1990 and 2007. Most of the facility’s workers were then furloughed while the plant was retooled and upgraded to build the new vehicle. That included changes needed to build vehicles made of sheet metal panels, as most Saturns built at the plant were plastic body cars. The facility now employs about 3,500 workers.