Remaining Pontiac Vibe Sales Halted by Toyota Sales Hold

Still don't know the answer? It's the New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI) plant in Fremont, California.

Launched as a joint venture between Toyota and General Motors this plant had a dual aims:

1. To give Toyota its first American plant a "foot in the door," as it was described at the time, as well as enabling it to open its first American design studio.

2. To give General Motors, its partner in this joint venture, access to products that were created by Toyota and to let GM have access to the technology behind these products as well. GM was able to badge its products with its own badges so that the Geo line that resulted from this linkage and which was sold by Chevrolet, was actually the Toyota Corolla with a Chevy "bowtie" badge.

From an historical standpoint, from an observer who watched this process unfold, NUMMI was quite a big deal when it was first conceived in the late 1970s and built in the early 1980s.

Although no one in the business suspected it at the time, this plant was the forerunner of what was to be a sustained period of foreign building in the United States.

The reason given by all the manufacturers at the time, and published by yours truly in various columns that I wrote at the time, based on information from the companies, was that the imported segment found it easier to compete when its labor costs were based on the costs of the host country.

GM, of course, noted through its spokesmen at the time that it would gain access to:

New ideas in technology.

New building technologies.

Toyota did gain:

Access to U.S. market

Had hoped to use this plant to leapfrog into the American market.

As one who first heard about this concept in 1979 and who then watched it grow in 1980 and 1981, we had thought it was going to have a great impact on the automotive community. As it was explained to us at the time, the cross-fertilization of ideas and the ability of an automaker like GM to have access to well-developed, highly regarded vehicles such as the Corolla and the technology it represented, was of key importance to both automakers.

One wag, who is still a good friend, noted at the time that it seemed like GM received the benefits, while Toyota did all the work.

Indeed, it did give GM a very nice vehicle that people immediately thought was just another Chevy. However, had they looked behind the "bowtie" they would have found that the vehicle was actually a Toyota Corolla.

NUMMI did have a salutary effect for Toyota. It gave them a point where they could bring in PKD (partially knocked down) vehicles that could be assembled for sale here. At the time, no other imported manufacturer had any plants here, although Honda had plans for its Marysville, Ohio plant, Mercedes-Benz had plans for its Atlanta plant and Volkswagen was planning for a Michigan-based plant. All of this information came from various competitive spokesmen at the time.

Toyota was able to use NUMMI to beat them to the punch, as observers noted at the time.

NUMMI was to be more, according to Toyota spokesman. Toyota was using the agreement to establish its first American-based design studio from which it could recruit the best and brightest from engineering schools across the country to work on Toyota products and develop new products for the U.S. market.

Indeed, the Toyota Design Studio was responsible for many of the vehicles designed for the Lexus Division of Toyota that made their appearances in the late 1980s.

When I had a chance to test drive them, at the time, you could see they were developed for the U.S. market as they contained items that were not considered essential for the home market, such as climate control, power seats, leather seats, power windows and ride and handling packages that were aimed for the Interstate, not for the crowded urban conditions that spawned the Corolla. The Design Study was also the springboard for such designs as the Avalon and the various Lexus ES models that were far more American in style and feel than Japanese. I found this out through extensive use of these vehicles at the time.

So, each partner did gain in the exchange and still continues to do so.

Indeed, General Motors has been brought into Toyota's latest recall of 2.3 million vehicles because the Pontiac Vibe -- built for the late Pontiac Division of General Motors by NUMMI -- was based on the Toyota Matrix and the sale of any 2009 or 2010 Matrixes has been put on hold by Toyota until new accelerator assembly kits are available for all vehicles, whether they are still on the assembly line or in dealer lots, has been halted, as has their production, various spokesmen noted yesterday.

Since the Vibe, AOL Autos noted this morning, is actually a Matrix with a Pontiac badge, sales of any remaining Vibes on GM lots have been halted.

AOL estimated there are fewer less than a dozen left to be sold -- GM says six -- but this still brings GM into the Toyota recall and sales hold announced by Toyota yesterday.

Alan Adler, a GM spokesman, confirmed the sales halt to AOL. "We are in the process of stopping sales of remaining Vibe models on dealer lots ... We are aware of (only) six units of these (vehicles) in the U.S."

Source: author's experience as a 30-year automotive journalist who watched the NUMMI concept grow from plan to plant in Fremont, Calif. Much of the information was supplied by GM spokesmen at the time, as well as by Toyota spokesmen.