Quote:
Originally Posted by g-boac
I'm curious how a Camaro actually travels from the factory to a dealer? Can anybody shed any insight into the process? I don't mean to ask the typical "when is my Camaro getting here" question, but rather, how does a Camaro get from there to here?? I'm in Texas, the Camaro starts out in Lansing, and I was wondering if they travel by rail on a train, on top of an 18-wheeler car carrier trailer with multiple other GM or Chevrolet (only??) cars, or something else?
Bottom line, I'm wondering if anybody here has insight into the GM (or Chevrolet?) logistics process, into how they take Camaros by the hundreds out of a factory lot in Lansing, and get them to their final dealership destinations. And, on average, how long the process takes. (Again, not "when is my Camaro getting here", but "how long does the average logistics chain process take to get a car from a factory to a dealership").
thanks!!
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I work at a dealer so I guess I can give you some insight.
Apparently the cars are made at the GM plant in Michigan. They have rail-road docks next to the plant and they drive the cars on to the rail cars at the scheduled times.
The rail cars are hauled to hubs located all over the country, and to shipping docks if they are going overseas, or they just keep going if the cars are headed to Mexico or Canada, or from Mexico in some cases.
When the cars reach the hubs they are off-loaded into a holding area, basically enormous parking lots.
My dealership for example is located in Baton Rouge, LA. The hub is located across the Mississppi River in a city called Port Allen, which is also the Shipping Port of Greater Baton Rouge.
Once the cars are delivered to the hub, they may sit there for 2-4 weeks at times; sometimes dealers can collect a car from the hub if there is a rush.
There are companies that specialize in car-hauling that usually have a base of operations next to the hub or travel to it and collect the cars. The hauler will collect the cars by efficiency; so it is not uncommon to see a trailer loaded with multiple brands. (If there are 3 dealerships of different makes right next to each other this will happen often)
Sometimes a large tractor trailer will haul 5 - 10 units to a dealership, or if the scheduled order is 2-3 units they will use a dually pick-up with a gooseneck. They will even contract the job to a hot-shot driver sometimes.
Once it touches the dealership lot, it goes through a pre-delivery inspection for any damage, is usually driven for about a mile and then it is put into inventory.
So in your case, living in Texas. It could travel by Rail to a hub near your dealership or even end up in in another state and be delivered by a car hauler to the dealership.
Your dealership can actually track the cars from when they are processed at each point.