Wilmington Assembly

Wilmington Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Wilmington, Delaware. The 3,200,000-square-foot (300,000 m²) factory opened in 1947, and produced cars for GM's Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saturn, Opel, and Daewoo brands during its operation. GM closed the plant on July 28, 2009.

History

The plant was located at 801 Boxwood Road. It was under the management of GM's newly created Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Division created in 1945, manufacturing cars for Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac. Some of the cars produced at the facility starting in the 1970s included (model years in parentheses):

• Chevrolet Chevette (1978-1985)
• Pontiac T1000/1000 (1981-1985)
• Pontiac Tempest (1987–1991)
• Chevrolet Corsica (1987–1996)
• Chevrolet Beretta (1987–1996)
• Chevrolet Malibu (1997–1999)
• Saturn L-Series (2000–2005)
• Pontiac Solstice (2006–2009)
• Saturn Sky (2007–2009)
• Opel GT (2007–2009)
• Daewoo G2X (2007–2009)

As part of the 2009 bankruptcy and restructuring of General Motors, Wilmington Assembly ceased automotive production on Tuesday, July 28, 2009. Its final product was a Pontiac Solstice convertible.

The closure of the Wilmington plant, for the time being, marks the end of large-scale automotive production in the Northeastern United States.

Possible future use

Fisker Automotive has chosen the plant to launch its Project Nina, a plan to build plug-in hybrid sedans that cost less than $40,000 with a federal tax credit, according to the automaker. Vice President and former Delaware senator Joe Biden joined Fisker executives for the announcement at the plant.

Fisker says it will begin production on its vehicles by late 2012; Project Nina will eventually create or support 2,000 factory jobs as well as 3,000 vendor and supplier jobs. By 2014, it expects production to enter full swing, turning out 75,000–100,000 vehicles per year. It expects to export more than half of these vehicles, which would be the largest export percentage of any domestic automaker.

The automaker will spend $175 million to retool the GM plant with the funding coming from the $528.7 million Department of Energy loan awarded to Fisker in September. Fisker currently only offers its electric sports car, the Karma.

Production has been delayed to enter approximately 2014-2015 due to bankruptcy and financial constraints.

Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Division (1945-1965)

Plants operating under Chevrolet Assembly management prior to General Motors Assembly Division management (most established pre-1945) were located at St. Louis, Missouri; Janesville, Wisconsin; Buffalo, New York; Norwood, Ohio; Flint (#2), Michigan; Oakland, California; Tarrytown, New York; Lakewood, Georgia; Leeds, Missouri; Baltimore, Maryland; Los Angeles (Van Nuys), California; Ypsilanti (Willow Run), Michigan; and Lordstown, Ohio. Framingham, Massachusetts is unusual in that it changed from B-O-P to Chevy management prior to becoming GMAD. The terminology is confusing because most plants assembled more than just Chevrolet or B-O-P and refers to the management structure only. In addition, Buick assembled cars at their "home" plant in Flint, Michigan; Oldsmobile at Lansing, Michigan; Pontiac at Pontiac, Michigan; and Cadillac at Detroit, Michigan.

• Arlington Assembly, Arlington, Texas
• Doraville Assembly, Atlanta, Georgia
• Fairfax Assembly, Kansas City, Kansas
• Framingham Assembly, Framingham, Massachusetts
• Fremont Assembly, Fremont, California
• Linden Assembly, Linden, New Jersey
• South Gate Assembly, South Gate, California
• Wilmington Assembly, Wilmington, Delaware

See also

• General Motors Companion Make Program
• List of GM factories