GM Kills Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac CT6, XTS, Chevy Cruze, Impala And Volt Production In North America


General Motors shocked the auto industry when it announced plans to close up to five North American plants and slash 15 percent of its salaried workforce earlier today.

The initial release was light on specifics, but the company has now added a “North American Capacity Actions” sheet which spells out of the death of a number of different models. Like previous actions by Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, GM’s sedan lineup is seeing major cuts.

Things will kick off on March 1st 2019, when the last Buick LaCrosse and Chevrolet Volt are built at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant in Michigan. At the same time, a couple hundred miles away, the last Chevrolet Cruze will be built at the Lordstown Assembly Plant in Ohio.

When summer rolls around, the Cadillac CT6 and Chevrolet Impala will cease being built at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant on June 1st. The Impala will get a slight reprieve as the model will continue to be built at the Oshawa Assembly Plant in Canada until the fourth quarter.

Speaking of the Canadian plant, it will also stop building the Cadillac XTS and the previous-generation of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra in the fourth quarter.

Besides the elimination of some car and truck production, GM will close plants that build components for the outgoing models. The Warren Transmission Operations center in Michigan – which builds transmissions for the Cadillac XTS, GMC Acadia and Chevrolet Malibu, Impala and Volt – will stop production on August 1st 2019.

Likewise, the Baltimore Operations center in Maryland will cease production on April 1st 2019.

All told, these five facilities employee 5,901 hourly workers and an additional 804 salaried employees.

Unfortunately, the bad news doesn’t stop there as GM will cease operations at two additional plants outside of North America by the end of 2019. This is on top of the previously announced closure of the assembly plant in Gunsan, South Korea.

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