Indiana: The State of U.S. Automaking
Our colleagues at Cars.com have once again traveled to Indiana, the "Crossroads of America," for a special report about the impact that the meltdown of the auto industry has had on the state's roughly 11,000 auto workers -- down almost 20 percent from a high of 13,600 in 2007.
Indiana represents the past, present and future of pickup truck manufacturing in the U.S.
General Motors started building full-size pickups in Fort Wayne in 1986. Today, 2010 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra half-ton regular and extended cab pickups still roll off Fort Wayne Assembly's lines.
While many other states are losing truck production, as manufacturers close plants to match lower consumer demand, Indiana is adding jobs for traditional trucks and, hopefully, an all-new plug-in hybrid pickup plant.
GM recently announced it was shuttering its Flint, Mich., truck factory. Production of the medium-duty Chevrolet Kodiak and GMC Top Kick trucks ended there in August and GM is moving Flint's Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra Heavy Duty regular cab and crew cab production to Fort Wayne -- and adding a third shift to the plant.
Electric Motor Company hopes to build its plug-in pickups, based on the Ford F-150, in Indiana with manufacturing partner and RV maker Gulf Stream Coach -- provided the company can obtain alternative powertrain loans from the U.S. government.
[Source: Cars.com]
Comments
Its funny how the Silverado and Sierra are both produced in the same State, the same factory, and probably come off the same line. Lets face it, they're the same truck with some minor cosmetic differences. Yet, according to Cars.com's own survey, The Silverado ranked 5th and the Sierra ranked 8th in Domestic Parts Content. There aren't enough differences in the two vehicles to account for that much of a seperation.
American-Made Index
1. Toyota Camry
2. Ford F-150
3. Chevrolet Malibu
4. Honda Odyssey
5. Chevrolet Silverado 1500
6. Toyota Sienna
7. Toyota Tundra
8. GMC Sierra 1500
9. Ford Taurus
10. Toyota Venza
Greg,
The American-Made Index doesn't just list Domestic Parts content; we also weigh in sales, with the presumption being that the better a vehicle sells, the more autoworkers and suppliers are employed to hellp build it. That's why there's a difference in their AMI rankings.
This is really interesting. There are a lot of truck companies to choose from and we should always choose the best for us.
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