GM: We Have No Product for Toyota NUMMI Joint-venture

DETROIT, June 26, 2009; Kevin Krolicki writing for Reuters reported that General Motors Corp has not found a vehicle it could produce at a joint-venture factory it operates with Toyota Motor Corp in California, a senior GM executive said on Friday.

Troy Clarke, GM's president of North American operations, said that the U.S. automaker remained in talks with Toyota but had been unable to find a vehicle to replace the Pontiac Vibe, which will go out of production by the end of August.

The comments added to the uncertainty around the future of the 26-year-old GM-Toyota joint-venture plant in Fremont, California, commonly known by its acronym NUMMI for the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.

The plant, which is represented by the United Auto Workers union, also makes the Toyota Corolla sedan and the Toyota Tacoma compact pickup truck.

As part of a bankruptcy financed by the Obama administration, GM automaker is dropping the Pontiac brand.

"We have been in discussions with Toyota with regards to potential future products that we could receive from the joint venture," Clarke said. "I'll just be honest with you: so far we have not figured out a product that fits the needs of NUMMI, Toyota nor ourselves."

"We are going to continue the discussions with them and remain open," he said. "Again, they have been great partners to us in the venture and so that dialogue continues."

Toyota said earlier this month that it was open to continuing the joint-venture and to supporting GM if it were asked to do so.

Editing for Reuters by Gary Hill