INGERSOLL -- Another sport utility vehicle is the odds-on favourite to be the next product built at Cami Automotive. Suzuki Motor Corp. is looking to replace its XL-7 midsize SUV and the Cami plant, now building the Chevrolet Equinox sport utility vehicle, is the best site for the job, said Mike Kurnik, marketing manager for the Japanese automaker.
"The XL-7 needs to be replaced and building it at Cami is an option they are looking at," Kurnik said. "We're very excited. This is an opportunity to grow and Suzuki needs a bigger lineup."
In fact, Cami -- a joint-venture auto assembly plant run by General Motors and Suzuki -- may look at building the XL-7 on the same frame as the Equinox.
Cami has shared vehicle brands with separate nameplates in the past, most recently the Chevrolet Tracker and Suzuki Vitara sport utility vehicles, which it stopped making at the end of 2003.
"It's an excellent platform for a (small) or midsize SUV," Kurnik said.
The plans for a new vehicle to be assembled at Cami come as Suzuki has plotted an aggressive growth campaign. Suzuki is one of the world's 10 largest automakers with 1.8 million vehicles sold globally, but has had limited success in North America.
In the U.S., Suzuki sold about 65,000 vehicles in 2003. It wants to increase annual sales there to about 200,000 vehicles by 2007. During the next five years, Suzuki hopes to boost global sales to about 2.5 million vehicles.
Since Cami is its only North American plant, it will play a big role in the growth strategy, Kurnik said.
Suzuki has seen the success of other smaller, low-priced automakers, such as Hyundai, Kia and Daewoo, taking market share and it wants to fight back.
"They are aggressively going after the North American market," Kurnik said. "They see the door has really opened up and they want the product."
Last Friday, as Cami celebrated the launch of its Equinox, which began rolling off the assembly line Sunday, Suzuki board member Hirotaka Ono said Suzuki may announce a new vehicle for Cami "very soon."
If Suzuki wants to replace the XL-7 for 2007, work on retooling the plant would have to come soon, said Kevin Brooke, chairperson of Local 88 of the Canadian Auto Workers union.
"A mid-size SUV is the big market that's out there right now. If this happens, that's awesome. That will go a long way to filling the rest of the plant," Brooke said.
The plant, which employs 1,900 including salaried staff, produced only 51,000 Tracker and Vitara small sport utility vehicles last year. Production of the Equinox may hit 150,000, but the plant has half its floor space available for a new vehicle.
"They had given us no indication of the (Suzuki) announcement," Brooke said. "I was shocked when I heard him say very soon. You can't do the design and engineering on a vehicle in a short period."
At its peak in 1995, the plant employed 2,400 workers. In recent years, that number dropped to its lowest point, 1,400, but has been climbing steadily with the Equinox. The plant recalled 21 workers yesterday and will recall another 21 March 1. Thirty skilled-trades workers were recalled in the fall and another 27 in January.
