Carper praises General Motors for new vehicle announcement

Washington DC- Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) today congratulated General Motors (GM) for its announcement that it will build a third derivative off the Kappa platform at the Boxwood Road plant in Newport, Delaware. The Opel vehicle, yet to be named, will be exported to Europe and will not available for sale in the United States. Production is currently projected to begin in late 2006 as a 2007 model year product. Production volume, as well as manpower requirements for the Opel, is being finalized. Earlier this morning, Senator Carper spoke with Dennis Dougherty, Plant Manager of the GM Boxwood Road Plant, and Tom Gagnon, President of UAW Local 435 who informed the Senator that they would make the announcement to their workforce today at 1:00 pm. “The new vehicle, which will be built for export, would be a win-win situation for Delaware, bringing jobs back to the plant and producing more business for the Port of Wilmington as well. We are grateful for the vote of confidence in our Delaware plant and the employees of our state,” said Senator Carper. “The commitment and productivity of the Boxwood Road GM plant is second to none, and our labor-management relations serve as a model for other plants around the country and around the world.” Senator Carper has an ongoing dialogue with GM executives and encouraged them earlier this month to further utilize the Delaware plant. Last fall, GM announced that they were closing their Baltimore, MD, plant and idling their Linden, N.J., plant while adding production to the Wilmington plant. As State Treasurer, U.S. Congressman, Governor, and now Senator, Carper has fought to keep both the GM plant and the Daimler Chrysler plant producing vehicles in Delaware.