GM to cut production of 3.8-liter V-6 engine

FLINT - General Motors plans to cut production of its long-running 3.8-liter V-6 engine at Flint Powertrain North in December, as it prepares to quit building the engine altogether in 2008.

In a letter to workers Friday, plant managers said engine production will be cut from about 1,016 engines per day to about 500 starting in December.

Exact details remain to be worked out, said Jeff Ward, a Flint North spokesman.

Floyd Straley, shop chairman of UAW Local 599 at the complex, said the plan has changed multiple times in the past few days - and might change again before Dec. 3, the target date.

“Everything they write these days has ‘STC’ on it - ’subject to change,’” Straley said.

Flint North, the former Buick City site on the city’s north side, is anchored by the V-6 engine plant, with various component plants clustered at the site.

Inside GM, a production reduction is known as a de-rate. The de-rate plan seems to indicate production will continue into the second half of 2008, depending on demand.

Straley said plans are to de-rate the entire site, except for some piston production work for other sites. Of about 1,200 active hourly workers at Flint North, 456 work in the V-6 plant, Ward said.

The de-rate would likely mean layoffs or jobs bank assignments for most workers, Straley said.

Flint North was a surprise detail in the recently negotiated national contract between the UAW and GM. The thick “white book” that details contract changes included a section promising North three new engine modules, to be built at a greenfield site. That is expected in 2011.

Straley noted that even the most basic production facility, likely to start construction in 2009, would take up to 24 months to complete and get rolling.

That would leave North without a product for an extended period of time.

The 3.8-liter engine has been on the chopping block since 2005, when it was first announced the engine would go out of production. GM Powertrain officials have said the engine would be phased out sometime in 2008, depending on market demand.

GM is now relying on a more modern 3.6-liter engine design built at North’s sister plant, Flint South.

Ironically, the 3.8-liter engine, or 3800, is one of GM’s most frugal yet powerful powerplants. It originally was built in 1962, sold to another company, then reacquired during the OPEC oil embargo in the 1970s to provide GM buyers with a less-thirsty alternative to big V-8s.

Since then, it has been upgraded and reworked multiple times, achieving higher horsepower ratings and even better miles-per-gallon ratings.

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