Saturn Plant to Open With Half Planned Jobs, Output

General Motors’ Saturn plant in Tennessee will open in 1990 with only about half the capacity and employment originally planned, but production will be increased later, Saturn Corp.’s chief said today.

Saturn President Skip LeFauve also said the Saturn car will be larger than the subcompact originally planned.

The company will employ roughly 3,000 workers and will initially be able to produce 200,000 to 250,000 cars a year at the start-up of the high-tech plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., LeFauve said.

“We’re going to have a slow buildup,” LeFauve told reporters at the GM subsidiary’s suburban Detroit headquarters. But he said production eventually could reach GM’s 500,000-car estimate.

GM will still allocate $3.5 billion to Saturn for plant and equipment capital expenditures but the money will be spent in stages, not all at once, LeFauve said.

The car will be larger than a subcompact because of changes in the U.S. auto market, he said, adding that Saturn is studying potential customers as it develops the design of the car.

“We’re trying to anticipate where they’re going,” LeFauve said. “The Japanese are moving up” in size and sophistication of vehicles.

He said that contrary to some reports, the Saturn car will have an aluminum block engine and use more than 90% U.S.-made parts. The first car is expected to roll off the assembly line the summer of 1990, he said.

As GM had planned, the plant will include its own aluminum foundry and engine, transmission, metal stamping, plastics and assembly plants, he said.