To keep up with demand for its midsize pickups, General Motors signed a deal to have Navistar International Corp. take on the task of assembling its commercial vans.
The agreement, released yesterday, will see Navistar assemble the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana in a Springfield, Ohio plant starting early next year. Booting the vans out of GM’s Wentzville, Missouri plant frees up capacity to build more Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups.
According to the Wall Street Journal, GM first approached AM General LLC to handle its van production, but those talks went nowhere.
With more room in Wentzville, GM will be able to tailor production to demand and (it hopes) regain lost market share. The automaker’s share of the light truck market dropped 2.3 percent this year compared to the same period in 2015. Last month that saw sales in all GM divisions slide sharply.
To produce the vans, Navistar plans to hire about 300 new employees and re-start an assembly line that sat idle at the Springfield plant for some time. GM already tapped the truck manufacturer to produce medium-duty commercial trucks starting in 2018.
The van contract is good news for Navistar, which just reported its first quarterly profit in four years. The company’s fortunes slipped due to lower demand for Class 8 commercial vehicles.
After re-entering the market in the fall of 2014, U.S. sales of GM’s Canyon/Colorado twins hit 114,505 units last year.
[Sources: Wall Street Journal]
It is not the first time Navistar has assembled a GM van based product. When Navistar purchased the P-series from GM and renamed it Workhorse they also assembled the over 1 tom cutaway version of the van which carried the name GMC 35000 HD by Workhorse.
Just another kick in the crotch to all of us who remember the GM van plant in Scarborough which at one time produced all GM vans for the North American market. And during the time when vans were a common sight on the roads as daily drivers.
Chatham used to have a Navistar heavy truck plant that was idled. They could have built these vans there, if Navistar hadn’t levelled the plant several years ago. At least they’re not sending production to Mexico.
Navistar is struggling and needs the work. Interesting to see GM do this because of the high and unmet demand of their Midsize Pickups. Fellow NA Class 8 manufacturer PACCAR made a loss last year as a result of a US$1Billion fine that it’s DAF subsidiary incurred in Europe
“To keep up with demand for its midsize pickups”
Perhaps Deathwatch II is premature.
Who knows? All I know is that I really wanted to like the GM midsize twins, and boy were they a let down. I’d love a smaller truck, but GM screwed them up.
Trolling kijiji for stepside Sonomas and evem GMT400 C1500 trucks in good shape.
I recuse myself on those. I’m never again giving up the garage space for even a “midsize” pickup and I’m never again parking anything outside. No more pickups for me.
But I’ve never owned or driven a Chevy truck I didn’t love.
Wait.. my Dad’s ’58 Apache was an ass-freezing slug in the winter. But they all were back then.
More membrane switches on more steering wheels.
Honestly, were I in the market for any pickup, a loaded 2009 F-150 would top the list. Best looking of them all before the Tonka designers took over.
I couldn’t disagree move Dave. The Colorado is awesome. About to lease my second. The resale value on the first is so high the dealer wants to buy it back, give me money back, and let me lease a 2016 (same truck) for 50 bucks a month less. And I’m going to let him.
Keep us posted. Dealers always send out those amazing offers for your current ride. Except when you get there it’s a different story.
I’m sure this isn’t a bait and switch. Dealer is a family friend and we have a signed contract.
I also know a few others who have completed this offer and it worked out just fine.
I’m interested to know Dave how you think the Colorado is screwed up? I think it’s perfect except for the ridiculously low front air dam. And I have the dealer deliver mine with air dam removed. Then it’s perfect.
Hey jjster6. First, thanks for understanding this is my opinion and I am not attacking you, your choice or your judgement.
Let me start off by acknowledging that in terms of comfort, ride, refinement, these trucks are top shelf.
Exterior design. If they had just made it a 3/4 scale Sierra, it would have been fine. But I really dislike the upward sweeping beltline and weird box cutline. Then they are also really awkwardly tall, you can see the frame like its a 2500. The box is way to tall for the cab, its just all wrong proportionally, to my eye. It just rubs me the wrong way.
When you get inside, and I found that it suffers from the typical modern issue of being much smaller on the inside than the outside would suggest. I do like the way its optioned and designed, it just felt way to small for the outward size.
Lastly, the air damn which you mentioned, but also, it just came with the wrong motor. It should have the 4.3L, which is a great truck motor. The 3.6L, while plenty powerful, is a typical OHC motor in the way it makes power. I think the SBC derived V6 just makes a lot more sense.
Honestly, if the looks were fixed, I could probably overlook the cramped interior and 3.6L. I DO think the underlying package is decent. But yeah, the looks just ruin it for me.
I love the tall look. A jacked up look is perfect. I don’t think a 3/4 Sierra would look anywhere near as good. Plus it’s not too hard to get into. Don’t need a stupid set of running boards.
As for being smaller on the inside, I’m very impressed with the room. Not as big as a full size but in this vehicle I don’t need to put the seat all the way back, an issue I have with a lot of vehicles. The belt line isn’t too high and I can fit 3 kids in the back, 2 in full child seats. Can’t seem to do that in most mid-sized cars.
Finally I thought the engine was a car engine too but it works just fine in the truck. Smooth, quiet, fairly good fuel economy, plenty of power, and can handle towing. I’ve pulled 4000 pounds with no drama. Rated for 7000.
Mine is a Z71. Does well off road. The new one is going to get a lift kid and some meatier tires. I think you really need to give the truck another look. Styling is a personal matter but I just don’t get a lot of your other criticisms.
Negative depreciation happens in rare instances, but for common Chevys? OK.
The Chevy’s of today are very good vehicles. Not perfect, but in a lot of cases top of the class or very close. Are they perfect, no. Are any cars perfect, no.
Really glad you like them. They just didn’t meet my hopes.
jjster6,
Here in Australia we also have the Izuzu Dmax, which is based on the same platform. It seems to get better reviews than the Colorado.
It’s a pity you can’t get these imported. They have a Izuzu diesel, Aisan transmission and different rear axle.
And they are generally cheaper than the Colorado.
Not just the Isuzu P’ups, it’s shame we can’t get Isuzu cars imported either. Just for Joe Isuzu commercials alone!
@Big Al from Oz
Seemingly no correlation to their on paper performance. Every report I read praises their towing and carrying capabilities.
On the other hand the Colorado is probably the worst of the bunch
Fleet managers are scared of modern vans and would rather purchase these dinosaurs.
Actually fleet managers are buying lots of Transits, more than the Chevy and GMC versions combined. Of course some of that may be due to the fact that already GM cut production of their vans to make more pickups. It also probably doesn’t help that they dropped the 15000 versions to dodge CAFE. However Ford had beat them to that punch by making the E150 have a 8520lb GVW or the same as the E250 used to have.
I do have to wonder if the real reason behind this is to be able to ramp up van production, because their sales are up so far this year.
The base Transit (with rebates) starts cheaper than the base Express (with rebates).
Whether or not it’s a better vehicle, fleet buyers often choose the *cheapest* vehicle in the class.
If fleet managers were only concerned with the purchase price the ProMaster would be at the top of the charts.
Expected up time and total cost of operation, including maintenance and repairs as well as purchase price less resale value is what smart fleet managers care about.
Fleet manager checking in. The Promasters are horrible for delivery usage. While the Transits aren’t anything to write home about due to the fact that the current fad for making thinner and lighter vehicles means that the Transits encounter door hinge problems, latch issues and ding easily, the Promasters are horrible. We get them from Enterprise and even my friend, the branch manager for the location who I’m nice to (never mind that she looks like Emma Stone) told me to never buy a Promaster due to the hinge issues and the transmission problems. I came in after they bought the vans, if I were to do a van for delivery, while I’m a Euro Ford guy all the way, I’d take the Express (last of the American “refrigerator” vans that can take abuse) or the Nissan NV (a reliable, if gas-guzzling dinosaur).
Here Transits are paying 3rd fiddle to Renault Vans. GM Vans in Europe are rebadged Renault Vans, built in the same factories
RobertRyan,
The reason is more competition against Ford here. Ford must compete not just with other manufacturers, but other countries, with little restrictions on imports.
We have vans from a variety of countries. This is good as we get the best value from this competition, considering the number of vans sold here.
I do know the Kia K2900 sells roughly 1 000 units a year. The K2900 is a trayback/flatbed that is the size of a midsize ute/pickup with little duals and a 10′ tray on the back and can put to shame most any pickup for carrying capacity.
They can carry around 4 000lbs or 1 800kgs and sell for around $29 000AUD or $22 000USD “driveaway no more to pay”. What is good about these vehicles, including the vans is their FE vs work if you operate a business.
Hmm, what I see says they are only good for 3300 lbs or only slightly more than my 2009 E-150’s 3200 lb rating, or a F150 with the heavy payload package and that is the lowest of the E-Series or F-Series. The fuel economy doesn’t sound that good either and the test I just read says it doesn’t match the rated 23mpg which you can get in an American 1/2 ton with a inexpensive to maintain gas engine.
Scoutdude,
I would not include the Kia( ISIS’s friend), for light delivery vehicles. IVECO or the Renault have 5,500lb to 9,000lb payloads,( Cab Chassis versions)Vans from 4,500lb to 8000lb similar fuel economy, and ergonomics as the little Kia.,IVECO as a Van is too noisy( relative) and rough riding, needs retuning for Australian roads As a Motohome base it is brilliant.Renault Master is definitely the most popular light delivery Van around.Transit has problems. Ducato has same unrefined aspects, but is a smooth riding Motohome base, but not as capable as the IVECO
You miss the point as usual, BAFO. As a fleet manager, I am not going to save a couple thousand (which is small fries for a delivery business which the minimum in our field is worth at least $3,000,000) to go buy a van made by some unknown Chinese company because guess what? I can’t get parts for them, the resale would be garbage and I’m taking a huge effing gamble on reliability. Not to mention that fleet maintenance companies are proficient with the Sprinter/Transit/Promaster/Express/NV because each of their manufacturers has to intentionally make the vans friendly for fleet usage to survive in the market and to sell to Hertz/Enterprise and the like to rent to us.
The enemy isn’t the $10,000 or so I’d save earlier on, the enemy is downtime and parts availability. Since we buy in bulk, this is the difference since I can get a deal from Ford. And this applies to for tradesmen, personal transport companies along with private van owners. Anyone in the United States who needs a van for their livelihood would rather have a used Transit/Express/Sprinter than a new Chinese van. If buying cheap no-name vans appeals to the Australian public, that’s fine with me, but don’t use it as some garbage excuse as usual to pile on our nation which you profess to dislike but have an unhealthy obsession with.
Scoutdude,
1.8 tonnes is not 3 300lbs. Multiply 1.8 tonnes is 1 800kg (kilogram) and there is roughly 2.2lbs (pounds) to the kg.
So here’s some arithmetic;
1 800 X 2.2 = ? 3 300? Wrong.
The K2900 with the flat bed is rated to around 3 960lbs. I was wrong.
And, how many pickups in the US are sold with over a 3 960lb payload capacity? 20%, 15%, I’d say less than 10%.
So, my comment that the K2900 does indeed put many full size pickups to shame in the payload department.
Do you agree??
The good thing about a vehicle that hasn’t really been updated in 30 years is that all the kinks have been worked out.
You would think all the kinks would be worked-out, but that’s not my experience from renting these. Last one I got had less than 1,000 miles on it, the paint was terrible, and the differential whined like crazy. Those are both signs of worn-out tooling and old factories.
On top of that, they still have lousy handling, torture seats, sub-5 feet load height, and an idiotic lack of tie-downs in the back.
The only reason GM still makes these is that they don’t have anything else. Their European vans are made by Fiat (the Promaster City we get here as a Ram), and by Renault/Nissan.
…and GM obviously can’t make a small commercial van, either, which is why they sell a re-badged Nissan.
Or they realize that the market is overcrowded and see that the only way anyone other than Ford is going to make money in that segment is to sell a rebaged product. Nissan of course has the extra capacity since the Taxi of the future deal went south so they are happy to move a few more units in hopes of someday amortizing their investment without the captive NYC Taxi market that they could have charged pretty much what ever they want under the mandate.
Scoutdude,
The only reason the US van market is over crowded as you term is because of the inability to import vans profitably.
Vans must be made in the US. So, this places constraints on variety on offer to the consumer. X amount of vans must be manufactured to maintain viability of US van production.
So, you view regarding the limitations on overcrowding was created by poor policy and regualtory control of a supposedly free market. Free market I aske myself?????
If vans were easier to import you would find much room for more product.
If a manufacturer wants to sell a van here, they figure out how to do it. Ford, FCA, Mercedes, Nissan, and GM all sell vans in the US that are not built in the US. The biggest barrier to entry for another company to sell a van is setting up some sort of network to sell the van.
More available vans would not increase the sales numbers, so any new vans would have to take a slice out of the 50% that Ford leaves for the other 4 players to scrap over. Go over to goodcarbadcar and take a look at the numbers. The only ones making money in the segment are Ford, because they own segment with over 50% market share and GM because the tooling for their full size product is long paid for and they just stick a badge on the compact product.
bball,
The problem is the constraints placed on manufacturers. The same problem applies for imported van and pickups into the US. They are taxed if not made in the US.
This would force van prices down, in the same fashion pickup prices would be reduced if more competition was there.
What is the profit on these vehicles? Pickup 25%. Seems to be enough room for competition. I don’t know the profit margin for vans though.
@BAFO – 1st, they don’t have to be made in the US. There’s Mexico, but 2nd, assembly/labour is a tiny part of over all costs.
And mostly, if a manufacturer is afraid of a little extra labour, doing final assembly when they hit shore, via CKD kits, they’re in the wrong stinkin’ business.
Except the 25% profits comes from decades of building sales, up to 700,000+ units in a normal year, plus relatively high % of luxury, premium trucks commanding often $60,000+, after rebates.
Finally, pickups and vans are crazy expensive to build, with almost endless combinations of trim, packages, engines,d 4wd, cabs, beds/bodies,axle ratios, wheelbases, dual rear wheels, etc, etc. Add to it, “fleet buyers” sitting, waiting like vultures, waiting to dig into profitability at the lower end.
If a new pickup or van manufacturer were to enter the US market for the 1st time, “lower end” cheapskates and bottom feeders are about the only thing they can hope for, especially “fleets”.
It’s very doubtful, any global pickup or van makers would consider entering the US market, when the Chicken tax is gone. Think about all the cheap to build, compact cars from around the world, that their manufacturers don’t care to join the US market. “No stinkin’ way.” they no doubt say.
Out near the Nashville airport on Murfreesboro Road there is a place that sells these apparently exclusively. Almost every one has the white paint peeled off parts of the hood(?).
Yes, this is a good point. If the move to Navistar means some new tooling then the Navistar-built vans may be the best GM vans in some time.
Of course, it doesn’t really matter, because the Transit is two decades more up-to-date for the same price, and is curb-stomping everyone else in the segment as a result.
I doubt it makes much sense to do any new tooling that is specific to the vans. The reality is that the GM vans are on borrowed time before they get at least a major makeover or are discontinued. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are on their way to being discontinued and this is a step in that direction that will insulate them when they do cancel it. GM won’t be closing a plant or laying off workers it will be Navistar that is closing a plant and laying off workers.
Why not use the Colorado chassis for the next GM use van?
Why not use the Colorado chassis? Have you ever actually looked under a pickup and van? Obviously not because a pickup’s frame has a kick up after the cab for bed mounting while a van uses a straight frame. So bye-bye to using the frame. It is also too narrow and I highly doubt the front suspension could achieve a 4000+lb weight rating that is needed for a full range of vans. So bye-bye front suspension. Out back not only is the rear axle too narrow it too would not support the 5500+lb rating that they would need for a full range of vans. In fact it probably wouldn’t cut it to replace the lightest current version of the GM vans.
So yeah some of those components might be suitable for a midsize van, which Mercedes can’t even move 500 units of per month, but they would never cut it for a real commercial full size van.
Vans can’t use pickup chassis’.
The Peugeot van for instance, we can’t get imported. It sadly couldn’t get past “X amount” sales threshold to “maintain viability”, but it’s the same thing with Peugeot cars, except who’s gonna cry for them??
Scoutdude,
The Titan is largely based on the Nissan van.
You’ve got that backwards Al the NV uses some Titan parts but they are very minimal and they certainly don’t use the same frame between the two. It is pretty much the rear axle, brakes, engine, trans and some interior pieces.
GM vans have been pushed aside for pickups for over a year now.
Ford is king of this category, yet RAM has got a market for FWD and being much shorter then others. Nissan NV has been picking up sales and offers a full 5 year / 100000 bumper to bumper factory warranty.
BTW, Why do the Sprinters rust like crazy?
“Why do Sprinters rust like crazy?”
Because they paint the US bound vehicles with the spit of various EU leaders.
Rental Man,
I would say if you received imported Sprinters from the EU they would be much better.
The US vans are just assembled, including surface finishing in the US.
I’d also say it has something to do with the way they are assembled at the plant as well. Some short cut or something to reduce the costs of assembly.
There is no logical reason why the US vans should rust out quicker than EU vans other than shoddy work to save a buck.
EU Sprinter painted with the “spit” of EU leaders is kind of misleading and a disingenuous statement.
It was a joke Al.
And US Sprinters come from Germany, just like the EU Sprinters. They are just shipped partially disassembled and reassembled in South Carolina. The passenger versions are not disassembled.
In a few years they will be made in South Carolina for the US market.
No the vans are not assembled in the US they have their engines and transmissions re-installed in the US, nothing more.
I should have said “reassembled”. You are right, the US facility doesn’t “build” the Sprinter. They just reinstall powertrains.
@bball I got what you were saying I was responding to little al and his “The US vans are just assembled, including surface finishing in the US.”
Haha. Ok, good.
I see Sprinters around the Detroit area looking like they are sweating rust. It’s ridiculous.
I’ve seen pics of some of those Sprinters from other areas of the country and it is incredible how they appear to be seating rust as you say. Living in the PNW vehicles in general just don’t rust so I’ve never seen the really bad examples in person.
What does the Australian motor industry have in common with a cheap hooker? The most enjoyable part for the car companies is when they were able to pull out.
I’d say GM must move rather quickly in increasing output of the Colorado/Canyon.
They will have Nissan with the new Frontier, Ford with the Ranger and maybe a FCA/Jeep/Ram pickup to compete against in the near future.
Better to set up shop and produce what will be more profitable in the longer term than to build Trabant style vans.
I also believe GM is now at the limit of continually gaining the most money from the Colorado/Canyon. If more are produced the prices will drop to move them.
Over the past couple of days I’ve read some interesting articles relating to the global and even the US outlook economically. It goes against the comment that new US vehicles sales will remain at roughly the current numbers.
The World Bank and others have revised the outlook for US economical growth down by around one third. The IEA predicts that India will increase the use of crude, so all isn’t as bright as that TTAC article presented the other day.
I’d expect a downward revision of new US vehicle sales to come out. The effect of those cheap financial instruments currently used to sell vehicles can’t last for ever.
If GM produces enough Colorado/Canyons and adds a little more discount then I might bite and get a silver Base Colorado with the 6 speed manual. I see a few of them advertised but most are at list price. If they got the price down to 19k I might bite.
GM lost 2.3% market share in the pickup segment even with the Colorado/Canyon?
No wonder they have ramped up the attack adds on Ford’s aluminum pickup.
I don’t care that much for the Chevy ads nor do I care for any attack ads. Lou do you know where GM lost the sales? Was it fleet? Mary Barra came out recently and said that GM was reducing its fleet sales? If Colorado/Canyon are losing sales then why is GM expanding production of them? Why is Ford reconsidering a new Ranger if the sales are not that good in the midsize market? There still is a shortage of new Colorado/Canyons which tells me that the demand is still there. I thought you were beyond being a fan boy but maybe you have your Ford moments. Maybe its just me but I am more interested in everyone improving their products and having more choice available. I like competition.
I don’t care that much for the Chevy ads nor do I care for any attack ads. Lou do you know where GM lost the sales? Was it fleet? Mary Barra came out recently and said that GM was reducing its fleet sales? If Colorado/Canyon are losing sales then why is GM expanding production of them? Why is Ford reconsidering a new Ranger if the sales are not that good in the midsize market? There still is a shortage of new Colorado/Canyons which tells me that the demand is still there. I thought you were beyond being a fan boy but maybe you have your Ford moments. Maybe its just me but I am more interested in everyone improving their products and having more choice available. I like competition.
I do agree with Big Al that increase sales cannot be sustained because cheap loans cannot last indefinitely and because the pent up demand for consumers who delayed purchasing a new vehicle during the 2008 Economic fiasco has for the most part been satisfied. I don’t take great comfort in FCAs decline and wish they were doing better.
The Springfield Navistar plant was the winner of the “whip-saw” between Springfield and the Fort Wayne Navistar plant some 30-years ago. For many years some of the displaced Fort Wayne workers were bused down to Springfield on Sunday night, worked Monday through Friday living in trailers and returned to Fort Wayne on Friday night. The Springfield plant has a history as a labor minefield and some variable assembly quality issues. Some of my high school buds went to work there and told tales of lug nuts in the tires before mounting as well as empty beer cans inside the fenders of high-dollar vehicles to give the correct new truck feel and “rattle”. I can remember that the “breakdown lot” at the end of assembly was always 2/3 more full than the “delivery lot” out at the plant on North US 68.