– Saturn has produced its last S-Series car, the model that gave the innovative auto manufacturer its start 12 years ago. The car, No. 2,702,695, was honored at a ceremony when it was parked next to No. 1 in the company’s in-house museum. The plant employing 7,100 is shutting down before it begins Thursday to manufacture the Ion, the compact sedan replacing the S-series.
FYI
– General Motors says it will build a new line of small cars at its Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant for the ’05 model year, without saying whether the new lineup will be Chevrolet Cavaliers and Pontiac Sunfires, its current small-car offerings. GM would say only that it intends to keep Lordstown a high-volume plant (320,000 Cavaliers and Sunfires annually assembled there now) and that the plant will build Delta platform cars. The only Delta platform it now builds is the Saturn Ion.
– Toyota and Nissan are forming a venture to develop “hybrid” systems in a move they say will speed the spread of environmentally friendly cars. Hybrid vehicles combine an internal-combustion engine with an electric motor to make them twice as fuel-efficient as ordinary cars of the same size. The agreement will last at least 10 years and calls for Toyota to supply state-of-the-art hybrid system components to Nissan for an undisclosed fee. .
– Volkswagen plans to increase the number of models it makes by 30 percent as it seeks to grow in the U.S. and China. VW now builds some 50 models. “In the medium term it will be 65 models,” says Chief Executive Bernd Pischetsrieder. “Among them will be a very basic VW of Polo-size for markets like Brazil or China.” Pischetsrieder also says VW needs to focus more on the U.S. market and would consider launching another convertible after the Beetle Cabrio, due in the U.S. this fall. Other new models could include a new two- or three-seater and a “small, unusual” sport-utility vehicle produced by Audi.
Calendar
– Morton College’s Automotive Technology Department is hosting an open house at 6 p.m. Thursday in Room 110D on the campus at 3801 S. Central Ave., Cicero. The open house is geared at Spanish-speaking individuals interested in basic automotive repair classes with bilingual assistance. Call Dave Hostert at 708-656-8000 ext. 324.
