Last Automobile Built In New Jersey An SUV - Newsday

[hatrack]

LINDEN, N.J. -- The last automobile manufactured in the state of New Jersey rolled off the assembly line to little fanfare Wednesday morning, a quiet but momentous end to an industry that once employed thousands of workers and helped fuel the state's economic engine. After operating for 68 years, during which it produced nearly 9 million vehicles and manufactured fighter planes during World War II, the General Motors plant here produced its final sport utility vehicle, a white Chevy Blazer.

The GM plant and the Ford plant in nearby Edison, which closed its doors in late February, were the last two auto assembly lines in New Jersey. The GM plant will sit idle until 2007, when union contracts expire. There are no plans to produce any new vehicles at the plant. At a barbecue set up in a parking lot across from the plant Wednesday, about three dozen workers flipped burgers, drank beer and soft drinks and swapped stories. Most of the latter revolved around a common theme: Leaving co-workers was akin to leaving family. "This closing is not easy, even though we saw it coming," said Faye Reck, 52, of Edison, who worked at the plant for more than 26 years. "It's like you're losing your family. You spent most of your life with these people. We're like brothers and sisters."

Declining sales of the Blazer and GMC Jimmy led the company to end production of the two SUVs that had been assembled at the plant since 1993. The plant had cut back from two shifts to one in 2002, causing about 1,000 layoffs. The 1,000 remaining workers learned last year that the plant would be ending production in early 2005. In its heyday, the plant produced Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs. During World War II, it was re-engineered to produce Grumman Wildcat fighter planes before resuming automobile production in 1946. In 1971, it became the first plant outside of Detroit to produce Cadillacs, according to a company release.

EDIT
That number fell to 7,600 in 2004, and most of those jobs were based at the Ford and GM plants, Hughes said. He was not optimistic about the auto industry returning to the state. "For American auto manufacturers, this is it in New Jersey," said Hughes. "There's an outside chance that at some point an overseas manufacturer could set up a facility in non-unionized south Jersey. But we'd be in such fierce competition with other states that could open it up in terms of subsidies."

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http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--lastsuv0420apr20,0,463611.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Mahwah Ford plant closed in the 1980s.

When I was growing up, I thought it would be there forever.

A high-rise Sheraton hotel and a Sharp manufacturing plant (among other things) now sit on its site.

[FtWayneBlue]

2. If they could built a Prius there, maybe they would still

be in business.