Yeah, I knew a guy who was hired as a manager there in the late 80’s. Very well educated, MBA from Wharton, and this plant was considered cutting edge for the automotive industry. He was very keen on how they ran things.
Later there were union problems, and eventually the government intervened somehow, I believe on behalf of Tesla, who ended up the new owner of the factory. Not sure if that’s considered a govt “buy out” but there was something very convoluted about it, according to my friend.
To be honest, I could not follow the confusing story of union/business/govt shenanigans, but then I don’t have an MBA!
They built the Geo Prism which was basically a Toyota Corolla.
But the UAW didn’t appreciate having to work like Japanese—productive, efficient, hardworking—so they started breaking things, and the Japanese finally said, “OK, we tried.” and left.
“Later there were union problems, and eventually the government intervened somehow, I believe on behalf of Tesla, who ended up the new owner of the factory”
I don’t know the details you speak of, but I’m fairly certain that Tesla took over a shuttered joint GM/Toyota plant in Nor. Cal. that was making the defunct Matrix and the GM equivalent.