Last thing I read over on LS1GTO.com is that things had changed in the last month or so and they weren't going to start building 06's til late August. If that's true, the 06's wouldn't arrive until (again!) December or January. Also some talk about something semi-major changing on the 06's that hasn't shown up in any of the early media literature. I'm hoping for the 6-speed auto

 

If you take out the 2004 GTO sailes for this year, they are selling at less than 1000 per month. A little math would seem to indicate that sales will need to pick up quite a bit to hit 15,000 for the year.

 

I suppose the assumption is that they'll sell better in the late spring/early summer months.

 

It's calander year based sales, not model year.... every vehicles sales are tabulated this way.

And, also like Joe said, summer months should sell higher than winter months....

 

UAW had nothing to do with that.

Holden had to go through a major expansion to even reach that number. Unless Holden invested alot of money to build an addition to the plant, there was no way on earth they'd be able to produce an more than an additional 18,000 cars per year.

BTW: with plans to make large RWD Zeta coupes in the US now on hiatus, and current GTO production now extended a couple of years, that will make importing their UTE (the new El Camino) more difficult if not impossible until Holden frees up more capacity. Either by opening plants in Korea or China, or by moving some production to the US.

Again, the UAW and CAW isn't the reason for limited GTO production.

 

Its not the reason however, I'm sure they would not of just accepted any greater numbers. (If it was possible)

 

180,000 sure - but 25,000 or 30,000 wouldn't have raised their heckles I doubt.

It's interesting to think about Elizabeth, and how Holden are going to be using their 3 production lines. Obviously 1 must remain as VZ platform to produce the Ute, coupe and Wagon, but I wonder how the other two will be setup. Presumably they will both be doing VE variants, but I wonder how they will perform the transition as the VZ gets phased out.

 

I posted this in another thread, but it pertains to this as well as far as 2005 MY GTO sales!

http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/archives...er_d.html#more

 

The only way the GTO got in was that it was classified a a niche vehicle and limited to 18k a year. Look into it. If you want me to post proof, I will.

 

Screw it, I had to post it anyway.

http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committ...ons/sub463.pdf

This is from the goverment down under and it states

"The 2004 Pontiac GTO is now based on a coupe built by GM's Australian unit Holden Motors. Due in dealerships next month GM is limited to building 18,000 GTO's a year, in part because of the sensitivity to the United Auto Workers Union. GM also hopes to create demand for the GTO by curtailing volume. But once the new rear wheel platform is put into place in ``several years'' Lutz said the car could be built in North America by union workers in somewhat larger volumes.''


It was more then sensitivity an was negotiated.

 

I don't think he is debating that the only reason it was let in because it was a niche vehicle.

He refuted your comment that it was capped at 18K by UAW. Granted, I don't know about UAW's involvement in this particular case, but 18K or 25K or even 30K would still qualify as niche vehicle, IMO.

At this point, UAW's permission or cap was not even considered. The only visible limitation to the numbers was, as GuionM pointed out, Holden plant capacity. It reached its maximum before the union would have its say.

edit: your link is interesting, but from many stories about GTO production I read, this is the first one pointing at UAW. Are there more sources that speak of it?

 

Do a google search on GTo + UAW + 18000 limit and variations. This is fact. Its been printed in many many places since before the GTO reached these shores.

Here is a direct quote from Lutz:

BOB LUTZ: We had to sit down with the UAW and convince them there is nothing more American than a rear-wheel-drive, V-8-powered musclecar. Because we didn't have anything suitable in our own product line, we all agreed that the imported GTO was the way to go for now, until a homebrewed successor arrives in the future.

Over at Cheers and Gears:
http://www.cheersandgears.com/boards...?TOPIC_ID=4672

" the UAW has restricted its import to 18,000 units per year"

 

I would tend to believe that GM set a sales target of 18k per year and negotiated that with the UAW. If GM wanted a target of 30k per year, I think we would have seen the UAW restriction at 30k per year. The UAW from my perspective is locking the sales to get future vehicle production here in the USA if the vehicle would take off and need 100k per year.

I don't think that the UAW "forced" GM in to only bringing 18k per year over. They might like to say that did, but I find that highly unlikely.

In my uneducated honest OPINION...

EDIT: As GM continues on a Financial downward spiral I think we'll see less and less of the UAW making decisions - and GM running the show.

 

I wonder if VZ and VE can go down the same assembly line.

 

With the new non-employee employee discount and other possible incentives, GTO's should be had for under 30k or about the same price as a well equipped or loaded GT coupe. I don't think this value/deal will go unnoticed and i expect for sales to pick up greatly in June and in the coming months.