Wilmington Assembly
 |
This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help improve the article by updating it. There may be additional information on the talk page. (November 2010) |
Wilmington Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Wilmington, Delaware.[1] The 3,200,000-square-foot (300,000 m2) factory opened in 1947, closing its assembly line in 2009. Its final product was the GM Kappa platform sports cars. Production of the Saturn L-Series halted on June 17, 2004. In the 1950s and 1960s. GM's Boxwood Road plant was designated as a B-O-P facility, manufacturing Buicks, Oldsmobiles, and Pontiacs.
As part of the 2009 bankruptcy and restructuring of General Motors, [2] Wilmington Assembly ceased automotive production on Tuesday, July 28, 2009. Its final product was a Pontiac Solstice convertible.[3]
Fisker Automotive has chosen GM's former assembly plant in Wilmington, Del., to launch its Project NINA, a plan to build family-friendly plug-in hybrid sedans that cost less than $40,000 with a federal tax credit, according to the automaker. Vice President and former Delaware senator Joe Biden joined Fisker executives for the announcement at the plant.
Fisker says it will begin production on its vehicles by late 2012; Project NINA will eventually create or support 2,000 factory jobs as well as 3,000 vendor and supplier jobs. By 2014, it expects production to enter full swing, turning out 75,000-100,000 vehicles per year. It expects to export more than half of these vehicles, which would be the largest export percentage of any domestic automaker.
The automaker will spend $175 million to retool the GM plant with the funding coming from the $528.7 million Department of Energy loan awarded to Fisker in September. Fisker currently only offers its electric sports car, the Karma.
The closure of the Wilmington plant, for the time being, marks the end of large-scale automotive production in the Northeastern United States.[4]
Former products:
- Chevrolet Caprice, Oldsmobile Delta 88 (1978-1986)
- Chevrolet Corsica (1987–1996)
- Chevrolet Beretta (1987–1996)
- Pontiac Tempest (1987–1991)
- Chevrolet Malibu (1997–1999)
- Saturn L-Series (2000–2005)
- Pontiac Solstice (2006–2009)
- Saturn Sky (2007–2009)
- Opel GT (2007–2009)
- Daewoo G2X (2007–2009)
[edit] References
- ^ General Motors to increase Solstice output at Wilmington awknowledge.com, (November 3, 2005).
- ^ "GM Pulls Ahead U.S. Plant Closures; Reaffirms Intent to Build Future Small Car in U.S.". GM Media Online. http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gmnews/viewpressreldetail.do?domain=827&docid=54632. Retrieved 2009-06-01.[dead link]
- ^ Wilson, Lauren (2009-07-28). "Last car rolls out of Del. GM plant". WPVI-TV/DT. http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6936567. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
- ^ Milford, Maureen (2009-07-13). "GM closing Boxwood Road, last auto plant in Delaware". USA Today, The (Wilmington) News Journal. http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-07-12-gm-wilmington-plant-boxwood_N.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
Coordinates: 39°43′42.97″N 75°36′41.26″W / 39.7286028°N 75.6114611°W
 |
This article relating to an automotive factory or manufacturer facility is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
