Labor secretary downsizes ride for new Chevy crossover

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has ditched her full-size SUV for a smaller Chevy crossover.

Solis may be the first cabinet official to downsize into a crossover — a Chevrolet Equinox — and may also be the first to ride in a vehicle assembled in Canada, rather than the United States.

Solis told reporters today that she swapped her government-issued full-size SUV — typicallly a Chevrolet Suburban or Cadillac Escalade — for an Equinox. She said she had previously beeen driven around in a Cadillac SUV.

The government-purchased Equinox may be the first smaller SUV to carry around a cabinet official.

“I’ve always been an advocate
for small, efficient vehicles,” Solis
said, saying she was setting an example by downsizing to a new smaller vehicle.

By riding in the Equinox, she was supporting American workers, and noted the “pride” that hourly workers take in assembling vehicles.

The purchase sends “a signal
that we are for supporting our
American workers, American-
made products,” Solis said. She
acknowledged it was not a hybrid
but it does “grab your attention”
and is a “good family car.”

In swapping her ride, she shifted from a vehicle assembled in the United States to one built in Canada.

Although some components
for the Equinox are built in the
United States and much of GM’s design and engineering efforts are in Michigan, GM assembles
Equinox at a plant in Ontario, Canada.

The other traditional vehicles for cabinet officers are assembled in the United States. GM assembles the Chevrolet Suburban and Cadillac Escalade in Arlington, Texas.

Solis picked out the silver paint color and said she had nicknamed it “the bullet.”