当Charles Dickens写道 A Tale of Two Cities 150 years ago, he said, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Today, the same thing can be said about two assembly plants owned by General Motors Corp. (GM, Detroit).

A Tale of Two Cities 150年前,他臭名昭著的penned the phrase, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Today, the same thing can be said about two assembly plants owned by General Motors Corp. (GM, Detroit).

The automaker just announced plans to shutter its Janesville, WI, facility by the end of this year. At the same time, GM just ramped up production at its retooled Spring Hill, TN, plant.

直到最近，在麦迪逊麦迪逊东南40号小城镇janesville制造的车辆是通用汽车最有利可图的。该植物组装了雪佛兰郊区，雪佛兰泰浩和GMC Yukon。那些运动型多用途车（SUV）在过去十年的大部分时间里帮助了通用汽车的电库。但是，现在市场已经大幅转移了全尺寸的SUV销售额，今年持续超过33％ - 旧工厂对公司不再有吸引力。

这太糟糕了，因为设施追溯到1919年的根源，是美国最古老的工厂。在几十年来，前拖拉机厂已经发布了数百万雪佛兰车辆，如Caprice和Cavalier Sedans，以及各种各样的半吨皮卡车。第二次世界大战期间，该植物生产了1600万炮弹。

Meanwhile, 40 miles south of Nashville, TN, folks are playing a different tune. General Motors just spent 12 months and $600 million remodeling its former Saturn factory. The facility’s 1.2-million-square-foot general assembly area was completely rebuilt to produce the Chevrolet Traverse crossover vehicle. As part of the mammoth project, 31 miles of new conveyor systems were installed throughout the plant’s body shop, paint shop and final assembly line. In addition, more than 600 new robots were installed in the 850,000-square-foot body shop.

虽然未来在田纳西州看起来很明亮，但它是威斯康星州的汇编者的另一个故事。但是，也许这两个植物的故事将有一个幸福的结局，与狄更斯的小说不同。

The workforce in Janesville is considered to be one of the best in the auto industry. Perhaps GM’s executives will get smart and decide to retool the factory to build fuel-efficient vehicles. How about assembling the Opel Agila, the Vauxhall Insignia or some other vehicles from GM’s high-mileage European lineup in Janesville?

Then again, maybe the mothballed plant will appeal to an automaker in China or India looking to assemble vehicles in the heart of the Midwest. That’s a tale Detroit hopes will never be told.