General Motors officially announced that the currently idled Orion Assembly Plant has been chosen to build a new small-sized car June 26.
A total of 1,400 jobs will be saved: 1,200 at the plant and 200 and the stamping facility in Pontiac, which will be involved in manufacturing of the automobile.
The Orion plant was in competition with two others, one in Wisconsin, the other in Tennessee.
The announcement followed a month of negotiating between GM and the different states.
In the end, Michigan offered the sweetest deal in tax breaks for the automaker. Governor Jennifer Granholm and Congressman Gary Peters were very active in the fight to keep GM in Orion.
Troy Clarke, president of General Motors North America, said, ‘The right answer was come to for the right reasons. The Michigan offer was very good. The folks in Michigan were very creative.?
Clarke would not elaborate on the state’s tax incentives. He said the criteria on which plant was picked came down to 12 items of consideration, an example of which he gave as the cost necessary to bring the plant to a environmentally green level not just for now, but for 2020.
Township Supervisor Matt Gibb said the ‘green? factor of the plant was an asset in the negotiations.
‘The power plant here is powered from the methane gas from the landfill,? Gibb said. ‘We burn methane. The others burn coal.?
The Orion plant was put on standby when GM announced its historic bankruptcy on June 1.
Since then, the Orion business and political community has been on a public relations blitz. Two ‘Call to Arm? town hall meetings were held at the Orion Township Public Library. Web sites like advantageorion.com and makeit inmichigan.org were started.
But it was the tax incentives that ultimately sold the GM brass. According to Gibb, the township offered a 25-year, 100 percent tax abatement worth about $100 million.
Combined with the creative plan put together by the Michigan Economic Development Corp., it was enough to keep GM making cars in Orion.
Gibb is optimistic about a future with the automaker, which is currently restructuring in bankruptcy.
‘They really want to make this plant long-term,? he said, adding GM is looking to expand the facility in the future to maybe add a paint shop, which the larger plant in Springfield, Tenn. already had. The Janesville, Wisc. plant is older.
‘It would have cost them a lot more to retool Janesville,? said Orion Trustee John Steimel.
The Orion plant will continue to be idled throughout the summer. In September, it will begin to be retooled for the new car at a cost between $600 and $800 million. Clarke said production would begin at the beginning of 2010.
Contrary to what’s been reported, the plant will not be producing the Chevy Spark. While Clarke wouldn’t specify which exact car will be coming out of the Orion plant, he said it will be a B-sized car. The Spark is an A-sized car. The closest examples of vehicles currently on the market are the Chevy Aveo and the Pontiac G3.
The plant is scheduled to make around 160,000 a year, of which a C-sized car will be a part of. Clarke couldn’t provide details on the other vehicle.