Michigan plant to produce subcompact car

General Motors Corp. said Friday, June 26, that it had picked two Michigan plants to build a small, fuel-efficient car that it will begin making in 2011.

In doing so, GM will save the jobs of about 1,400 workers at an Orion Township, Mich., assembly plant and a Pontiac, Mich., sheet metal factory.

Proximity to suppliers and the Pontiac stamping plant helped, but a whopping $1 billion in tax incentives and training support was an offer GM could not refuse to produce future small cars at its Orion Township (Michigan) assembly plant rather than in Wisconsin or Tennessee, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The state came up with a $779 million, 20-year Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA) tax credit package. Separately, Orion Township offered a 25-year 100% personal property tax abatement, potentially worth $100 million over 25 years, according to township supervisor Matt Gibb. Oakland County offered $136.5 million in retraining funds.

GM will invest between $600 million and $800 million to equip the plant to build up to 160,000 small cars annually, beginning in 2011. The body panels and structural components will come from GM’s Pontiac stamping plant, preserving another 200 jobs.

Orion first will launch a subcompact car the size of a Chevrolet Aveo, now produced in Korea. Eventually, the plant will be able to assemble a slightly larger compact model, perhaps the Chevrolet Cruze, which launches next year at Lordstown, Ohio. [07/02/09]

Coughlin wins $50,000 K&N Horsepower Challenge

Pro Stock driver Jeg Coughlin added $50,000 and a win in the 25th annual K&N Horsepower Challenge to his resume Saturday, June 27, at Norwalk, Ohio.

Spurred on by a home state crowd, Coughlin, of Delaware, Ohio, was an underdog all day but used exceptional driving in his Chevy Cobalt to claim the special race-within-a-race, which invites the top eight qualifiers from the previous 12 months to battle for cash prizes.

"To do it here in Ohio makes it all the better," Coughlin said. "This race always used to be run in Englishtown, N.J., but they moved it here and that's okay by me. We have a bunch of family and friends here supporting us and it's really neat to give them something to get excited about. It's going to be wild winner's circle celebration."

Action began with a tough matchup against Allen Johnson, who had driven to the provisional Pro Stock pole Friday evening for the regular national event. This time, Johnson encountered severe tire shake 200 feet into the race and had to abort his run, handing the win to No. 6 qualifier Coughlin, who went 6.670 at 206.95 mph.

Another monster race awaited Coughlin in the semifinals with red-hot Mike Edwards in the other lane. But just as he has so many times before this year, Coughlin posted an incredible reaction time of .012 seconds ahead of Edwards' sluggish .055-second start, which translated to a holeshot victory at the other end. Coughlin takes the stripe first with a 6.709 at 206.95 mph to Edwards' quicker but losing 6.673 at 207.75 mph.

In the final, Coughlin faced Greg Anderson, but once again got an early jump -- .020 to .062 seconds -- and never looked back, getting an easy win in 6.675 seconds at 207.05 mph. Anderson encountered tire spin at the launch and couldn't recover enough to make a run at Coughlin, crossing with a 7.322 at 161.69 mph. (file photo by Ron Lewis) [07/02/09]