Buick City

Flint's 235-acre complex temporarily known as Buick City was in operation from 1904 until 2010. The facility was partly demolished in 2002.

Buick City was a massive automobile manufacturing complex in the northwest of Flint, Michigan. Elements of the 235 acre (951,000 m²) complex dated from 1904, but it became known as Buick City in 1985. The Buick Site is still producing components for GM facilities and outside buyers. Operations ceased on the week ending November 20, 2010. The site will be vacated by GM employees and site responsibilities will be transferred to Motors Liquidation Corp as of December 6, 2010. The final cars built at Buick City were the Pontiac Bonneville and the Buick LeSabre.

The plant originated with Buick before the formation of General Motors. Other elements were built by early manufacturers and suppliers like Fisher Body. The Buick City concept represented a successful attempt by General Motors to experiment with just-in-time manufacturing methods in response to Japanese manufacturers. The experiment included successes: The 1989 Buick LeSabre built in Buick City was ranked the top car in the J.D. Power and Associates rankings for that year; it was the first American built car to show up on the list. In 1999, the year the plant was closed, Buick City won the Platinum Award. As of 2006, it was the only General Motors plant given this award. The failure of auto manufacturing in Flint was lamented in Michael Moore's documentary film, Roger & Me.

See also

• List of GM factories

Further reading

• "General Motors closes Buick City complex in Flint, Michigan". World Socialist. http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/jul1999/auto-j02.shtml. Retrieved May 10, 2005. 

External links

• Demolition photos
• JD Powers and Associates from Answers.com
• All Things Buick Blog about factory and worker's history