Flex-Fuel SUVs in Janesville, WI

Today we stopped near the Wisconsin–Illinois border to visit GM’s Janesville Assembly plant, which builds the Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and Chevy Suburban.  We were greeted by leadership from UAW Local 95, who were interested to learn more about the kinds of fuel-efficient technologies we are promoting and the chances of GM actually making the Chevy Volt plug-in electric concept vehicle that debuted at the North American Auto Show last week. 

The SUVs being built in Janesville now are pretty efficient, for what they are.  They are among the class leaders in terms of fuel-economy, so if you need to haul large or heavy loads, they really are a pretty good choice.  The standard engine on 4x4 models is flex-fuel, so it can run on corn grown right in Wisconsin.  In fact, GM makes the majority of flex-fuel vehicles offered in the US.  Currently there are 27 flex-fuel models on the market, 25 of them are made by domestic companies, 14 are made by GM. (To learn more about GM's flex-fuel vehicles, visit its Live Green - Go Yellow website.)

The engine also uses an Active Fuel Management system that shuts half the engine’s cylinders down when driving conditions are light.  If you get the Denali version of the Yukon, it comes with a new six-speed that helps make the vehicle a little more efficient.

Two-mode hybrid-electric versions of the Tahoe and Yukon are coming soon, and expected to get a 25-30% boost in fuel economy. They’ll be out later this year (though they’ll be built at GM’s SUV plant in Texas, not Wisconsin) – more on the hybrids tomorrow when we visit the place where they were developed.

We toured GM’s facility and were astonished by the history of the plant and the strong work ethic that exists there.  The plant was built back in 1919, when it started as a tractor factory (which is fitting considering all the farms in the area).  The plant eventually built the ’57 Chevy, the Caprice, the Cavalier, pick-ups, and now SUVs.  Many of the workers there came from local farms way back when, and some have been working alongside their brothers, sisters and cousins for several generations.

While workers at the plant are obviously proud of the advanced technologies being used in the vehicles, it’s clear when talking with them that they are worried about their jobs.  Two other plants (the Texas plant, and another plant in Mexico) currently build the same vehicles, and with sales of large SUVs slipping it’s possible that at least one of those plants could close in coming years.