Chevys Replace Saturns in Spring Hill, Tenn.

It sounds like the Tennessee plant will get the new Chevrolet crossover vehicle, based on the same architecture as the recently introduced Saturn Outlook and GMC Acadia and the upcoming Buick Enclave. Edmunds.com’s Inside Line reported this week that the Chevy crossover in the works for the 2009 model year may be called "Nomad," reviving a storied nameplate that dates back to the 1950s and a 2004 concept vehicle.

The Spring Hill, Tenn., plant was built specifically to produce Saturns in the 1980s. Saturn was created by GM in the 1980s to rethink everything about the industry, from how cars were developed and manufactured to how they are sold. The Spring Hill plant borrowed the best, innovative ideas from all over the world, from its environmental aspects to its management. Its management-worker relationship was unique in that UAW-represented workers had their own specific contract and participated in high-level decision making.

The Spring Hill plant also was the the site of Saturn Homecomings, events to which Saturn owners were invited. They were like country fairs with big-name entertainment and plant tours.

The Chevy crossover will be a seven-seater with unibody construction that will replace the slow-selling Chevrolet Uplander. Sources told Inside Line that Chevrolet believes returning to retro names -- although not to retro styling -- is the way to win consumers

Nomad originally was used on a Chevrolet station wagon, most notably in its two-door form that was on the market from 1955-'57. That landmark Chevrolet Nomad was styled more like a hardtop than a station wagon and could arguably be described as a kind of primitive "crossover." The Nomad design was an offshoot of a 1954 GM Motorama show car of the same name that was based on the Corvette. Chevrolet also revived the Nomad name on a 2004 concept vehicle off the Kappa platform that featured a removable rear roof panel and a folding tailgate.

UPDATE TO STORY: JAN 08

An Inside Perspective: Retooling Spring Hill Posted by Charlie on January 21st, 2008 To many fans, the former Saturn manufacturing plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee is a big part of the brand's heritage. The sheer number of emails I've received about the plant from Saturn owners over the years speaks volumes for the appreciation customers have for the work – on both the union and management sides – that was done at the facility.

I recently received an email from a longtime Spring Hill worker who wrote to tell me about some of the changes going on as the plant prepares to build its first non-Saturn vehicle later this year. The message also provided a general perspective of how some workers in Spring Hill feel about where they've been, where they're going, and the changes along the way. With permission, I'm sharing this note with you.

Things are moving to a post-Saturn feel at the plant. The transformation is taking place as Spring Hill moves from building Saturn cars to a new Chevy crossover. The plant has had all of the old equipment removed, and trucks are coming in daily with the new machinery. Powertrain is still building the 2.2L and 2.0L turbo, and they're getting ready for 2.4L production. Some of the operators will be coming back at the end of February.

Its somewhat sad, seeing the Saturn signs being removed in the plant. There's a lot of history in those signs. I came here in the late 1980s when Saturn was not only a new car, but a new concept. I was there when Roger Smith drove off the first Saturn in 1990. That car still sits in the main office. I was a host at both of the Homecomings where thousands of people came from around the county to Spring Hill with their Saturns. It was just like a big old family reunion. I watched the change from a single style SL and SC to the station wagon. I watched the SC get a third door. I helped put in new equipment so we could build the Vue, and in resent years, the addition of the Ion.

This change didn't happen over night. I can't tell you how bad we all felt when the announcement came down that Wilmington would be building the new LS, and that the Sky would eventually go there too. Now that's all gone. Its just an empty building getting new equipment to build another GM vehicle.

The future for us here in Spring Hill is a bitter sweet. We lost Saturn, but we will still be working building the crossover. We didn't loose our jobs to a plant overseas or across the border. We will be here building cars, and things will go on. New styles of Saturn are coming out all the time. I'm proud to say that here in this little town, nestled in the rolling hills of middle Tennessee, we changed the way cars were being built, how the dealers sold them, and how people accepted a little car named Saturn.

You can take away the signs. You can change the location of where Saturns are built. But for us old guys, just like proud parents, you can't take away the fact that the Saturn was born, grew up, and moved out of the house here in Spring Hill to become a great car.

Source: Worker at GM Plant in Spring Hill, TN