There is one piece of recent news that really caught my attention and made me quite sad. It was GM’s announcement that it was shuttering a handful of auto assembly plants and discontinuing six of the company’s sedans, including my favorite GM sedan — the Chevy Cruze.
Of course, the loss of a few car models is nothing next to the nearly 15,000 employees who received notice that they were losing their jobs, just a month before Christmas. Add to that the negative impact on the small local businesses that surround the plants.
Now, I do not own any GM stock and I don’t own a Chevy Cruze, but I felt really sad because it marks the end of an era, an era that has covered my entire life until now. You see, I come from a GM family. My paternal grandfather was a GM guy and as long as I was alive, had GM cars. In fact, my dad still owns a 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 hardtop sedan, the last car my grandfather ever got to buy.
My dad, for his part, has always owned at least one GM car — most times, there were two GM cars in our garage. There have been Chevys, Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, and after the elimination of the Olds division by GM in 2004, Buicks. There were both sedans and station wagons, both now endangered species among vehicle types. My dad frequently brings up his beloved 1987 Oldsmobile 88 Royale sedan, the best car he ever owned.
For my part, I have owned a number of cars since I got my first car in 1985. That car was 1978 Chevy Malibu Classic sedan — a car I bought from my parents. I would go onto buy a Nissan, a Dodge, a VW, a Toyota, and four more Chevy’s (alright, one was a Geo.)
Of all of these vehicles, I would say the best one of the bunch, and the most expensive, was the 2002 Toyota Sienna Van that my wife and I drove up to around 285,000 miles before too many things started breaking. The worst was probably the VW, a car that rusted prematurely and is the only one to leave me stranded and requiring AAA — on a New Jersey highway no less. Despite it all, the Chevys, never the fanciest of models, all delivered and always got me home.
My current car is a 2014 Chevy Sonic Hatchback named “Tiny Tina,” a car that I just love. She is fun to drive, was surprisingly good in the most recent snow, frequently serves as my “work truck,” and fits in the smallest of parking spaces. I was pleased to learn that GM had no immediate plans to ax the Sonic models — I hope GM continues to offer this or a similar car in the future.
Many people, my wife for one, refuse to consider American cars as an option, and I think that’s a sad state of affairs. The big American manufacturers — GM, Chrysler and Ford — made some really great cars, beautiful cars that defined the period they were created for, then again, they made some really junky, poor performing cars.
Now, I think most American cars are as competitive as most Asian cars, and probably simpler, cheaper, and easier to maintain than the offerings from Europe. Although, once someone’s owned a Honda or Toyota, they usually won’t consider anything else.
I think GM’s move, from a business standpoint, probably makes a great deal of sense, but for the people in the Midwest and Canada it has impacted, it is a tragedy. Charles Erwin Wilson, a onetime president of GM said, “What’s good for the country is good for General Motors, and vice versa.”
I’m not sure that’s the case anymore.
Mariel Addis is a native of Florence. She left the area for 16 years but returned in 2013 and loves being back in the Valley.