GM Ohio SUV factory to close on Dec. 23
MORAINE, Ohio — General Motors Corp. said Friday it will shut down its SUV assembly plant here on Dec. 23 as the company shifts focus to smaller vehicles.
GM spokesman Chris Lee said employees gathered in the plant Friday afternoon were informed of the closing date. Some 1,100 remaining workers are affected.
The automaker earlier this year announced plans to close the Moraine plant and three others by the summer of 2010, then accelerated shutdown plans as part of companywide cost-cutting moves.
It was not clear Friday what impact, if any, the closure of the Moraine plant would have on the GM plant in Janesville.
The Janesville Gazette was not able to reach a local plant spokesperson or United Auto Workers Local 95 on Friday afternoon.
Before it closes its plant in Janesville, GM must give the state a 60-day notice of its intentions.
On Sept. 12, a Wisconsin delegation flew to Detroit to propose a plan for continued employment at the Janesville plant. Tim Cullen of Janesville and then-UAW Local 95 President Brad Dutcher led the effort that led to the meeting with GM.
“Afterward, they called it a serious proposal, and they said there would be further discussions,” Cullen said at the time.
Many people—GM workers included—have predicted the Janesville plant will not live longer than 2009, if it sees 2009 at all. They base those predictions on the state of the market, the expected November and December downtime and indications around the plant that suppliers and vendors have been told not to expect much if any business at GM beyond October.
Union leaders have said they were expecting the Moraine plant, located in a southern suburb of Dayton, to shut down by January or February. Messages seeking comment were left for the International Union of Electronic Workers-Communication Workers of America.
GM recently reduced operations at the factory to a single shift, eliminating 400 to 500 jobs.
The company had planned a production break in December, but Lee said Friday the plant will keep up operations until the closing date to make sure all remaining customer orders are filled.
A slumping U.S. auto market and a shift from pickups and SUVs to smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles led to the shutdown plans.
The Moraine plant assembles the GMC Envoy, Chevrolet Trailblazer and Saab 9-7X. All three vehicles have seen their sales fall at least 30 percent through September, compared with the same period a year earlier.
GM turned down a $56 million tax credit and grant package from the Ohio Department of Development to keep the plant open.
The other plants GM has said it will close are Oshawa, Ontario; and Toluca, Mexico. The four closures combined will result in the loss of about 8,350 jobs.
Oct 6, 2008 at 9:28 a.m.
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Get on with the final date of the plant closure General Motors, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!! It would make most of the rumors go away and let everyone involved with GM make a better decision. Stay or leave GM....it's the question hanging over our heads right now....
Oct 6, 2008 at 8:16 a.m.
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Ford has a 33.9 percent stake in Mazda.
Oct 6, 2008 at 2:29 a.m.
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Foreign vs. domestic. Who owns Mazda, etc? I know that the vast majority of "foreign" producers are American owned. For example, Mazda is actually a subsidiary of Ford-- hence the reason why the smaller Mazda pickups look just like the Ford Rangers.
Oct 6, 2008 at 2:27 a.m.
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"GM...Shmee Em". Janesville is going to get a BUFFALO WILD WINGS soon enough. The community is sound...
Oct 6, 2008 at 1:52 a.m.
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The big question is will the government now bail out the "big 3"? All are on the verge of bankruptcy, and it would be hard to deny them now that we just blew a near trillion $$$ to bailout all these big banks who were so reckless.
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One positive thing for auto makers is that crude oil is in full scale retreat (has dropped to about $92 a barrel now, after being at around $140 a few short months ago) now that the world economy has grinded to a halt from the financial crisis. You see the price of gas coming down now as a result, and expect it to keep coming down.
Oct 6, 2008 at 1:29 a.m.
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I was refering to the tranalation I've read: "and so the glory passes". GM used to be THE auto company. Unfortunately, like so many other businesses, institutions, and even families, they confused the acclaim for past performance (sometimes from the predecessors who achieved that performance) with their own current performance/capability.
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The auto industry in this country will take a big hit, which the American manufacturers deserve for successfully bullying/bribing the government to delay the enforcement of stricter CAFE standards. The blame includes both the Republican and Democratic parties and citizens who kept voting in those lame lobbyist-kissing politicians, or not voting at all.
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We are now starting to take another big hit due to the mortgage financing crisis, again with blame to go around for all. It's even hitting other stock markets in the world, further tarnishing the reputation of the US dollar. I will be surprised if countries don't start migrating to the Euro as an international standard very soon.
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I hope GM recovers, but I'm pretty certain it won't be doing so in Janesville. The city will have to get along without a GM factory.
Oct 5, 2008 at 7:55 p.m.
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General Motors does make quality, fuel efficient vehicles in addition to trucks, suvs, etc. For that matter so does Ford. I don't know why people show such preference to foreign companies.
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I asked a Honda owner if he and others were going to be happy when the GM plant closes and several thousand were out of work. He said that he would buy a GM if it wasn't for the poor quality. I asked him which ones were poor quality and he got a deer in the headlights look and could not answer.
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Seem in some cases to be a "snob" factor, people buy foreign so they can show that they are smarter, more enlightened than domestic auto buyers. In reality, that is not the case. It's bad to see Americans lose their jobs.
Oct 5, 2008 at 6:10 p.m.
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gm makes some GOOD fuel efficient cars. cars that have better fuel economy than honda or toyota. the problem is people dont know that about gm. gm has spent the last xxx amount of years gettin rich off the big trucks/suvs that that is all people associate gm with. when they see 4 bux/gallon they think...i need to buy a honda/toyota... and when they buy a camper they think...i need to buy a suburban... those thoughts are not the correct thoughts but it will take YEARS to untrain john q public of that...
Oct 5, 2008 at 5:54 p.m.
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next week fate25
Oct 5, 2008 at 5:06 p.m.
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when do you think janesville will get there letter to know there exact date when they will shut down? anyone?
Oct 5, 2008 at 4:12 p.m.
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Merry Christmas
Oct 5, 2008 at 11:06 a.m.
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hey truth1,Japan S.Korea and soon China subsidize their Auto industy not punish it like here in the U.S. the profits go back there while their governments aid in research and devolpment. The modern democratic party here is in the back pocket of the green movement which is unwinding everything this generation inheirated.They like high gas prices because it harms companies like GM. Only if Detroit makes what they are are told will they be allowed to survive. And this party is for the middle class? Thanks UAW for being so nieve.
Oct 5, 2008 at 10:31 a.m.
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Funny how toyota and others can make the big suvs for those that want to buy them and also make really good small cars while others can't seem to accomplish it.
Oct 5, 2008 at 10:25 a.m.
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Sic transit Gloria mundi is part of a phrase used in the Coronation of the pope, specifically "Pater sancte! Sic transit gloria mundi," translated as "Holy Father! Thus passes the glory of the world." A warning that though he had become pope, he is still mortal or something to that effect.
The phrase is also translated "Worldly things are fleeting."
Sic transit gloria mundi is also the title of an instrumental ditty by a black metal group called Varathron, a band with a certain fascination with the occult and the Catholic Church. Janesvillecomments with have to tell us which reference is the one he intended.
Oct 5, 2008 at 10:07 a.m.
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At what point will the GM and the other (BIG three Auto makers) take heed to the foreign auto makers are doing... they have been making a more fuel efficient and better safety records than our gas hogs.. we have seen this coming for some time and you all have to agree, if we would take the technologies from the foreign auto makers and place them in our cars.. we would be a lot better off than we are now... I am not saying that we buy Foreign autos, just adopt what they are doing... We are suppose to be a Superpower.... lets show it
Oct 5, 2008 at 9:14 a.m.
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Probably does not help when a Senator from Wisconsin was the loudest voice against the loans the auto industry got. The UAW supporting the democratic party is slow sucide, Janesville Assembly will be gone, but the worst may be yet to come.Just wait till a GM bankruptcy, The end of pensions and health care is a nightmarish scenario, and democrats love it because it will make more of them, as everything is dumped on the Govt. To far out there? Look how they vote, see what they drive. The new CAFE laws were enacted to kill plants like Janesville, and accelerate the end of the domestic auto industry.
Oct 5, 2008 at 8:13 a.m.
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Where are all the foreign car buyers? Where are all the ones who can't stand to see people making a living wage? Comon, I'm waiting to see the claims of it being the employees fault that the product they help build is not selling.
Oct 5, 2008 at 7:41 a.m.
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janesvillecomments:
Okay, I'll bite, what does that mean?
Oct 4, 2008 at 10:17 p.m.
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the writing on the wall doesn't get more clearer than this people
Oct 4, 2008 at 12:24 p.m.
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Sic transit gloria mundi
Oct 4, 2008 at 12:20 p.m.
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Ouch! Talk about a horrible Christmas present from your employer! Poor planning.... AGAIN, by GM!
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