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GM to cut production at 5 plants in North America, kill several models

DETROIT/WASHINGTON — General Motors Co said on Monday it will cut production of slow-selling models and slash its North American workforce in the face of a stagnant market for traditional gas-powered sedans, shifting more investment to electric and autonomous vehicles. The announcement is the biggest restructuring in North America for the U.S. No. 1 carmaker since its bankruptcy a decade ago. GM said it will take pre-tax charges of $3 billion to $3.8 billion to pay for the cutbacks, but expects the actions to improve annual free cash flow by $6 billion by the end of 2020. GM plans to halt production next year at three assembly plants: Lordstown, Ohio, Hamtramck, Michigan, and Oshawa, Ontario. The company also plans to stop building several models now assembled at those plants, including the Chevrolet Cruze, the Cadillac CT6 and the Buick LaCrosse, the sources said. Sources said the Chevrolet Volt, Impala and Cadillac XTS would also be discontinued. Signs of the demise of six passenger-car models have been swirling since July. Plants in Baltimore, Maryland, and Warren, Michigan, that assemble powertrain components have no products assigned to them after 2019 and thus are at risk of closure, the company said. It will also close two factories outside North America, but did not identify those plants. The AP reported that 14,700 jobs would be affected. Some 8,100 of those would be white-collar jobs reduced through buyouts or layoffs. The No. 1 U.S. automaker signaled the latest belt-tightening in late October when it offered buyouts to 50,000 salaried employees in North America. The company also said it will cut executive ranks by 25 per cent to "streamline decision making." Some 6,000 factory workers could lose their jobs or be transferred to other plants. Its shares were last up 6.2 percent at $38.16. Tariff 'headwinds' and cost-cutting GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra told reporters on Monday the company can reduce annual capital spending by $1.5 billion and increase investment in electric and autonomous vehicles and connected vehicle technology because it has largely completed investing in new generations of trucks and sport utility vehicles. Some 75 percent of its global sales will come from just five vehicle architectures by early in the 2020s. It plans to reduce annual capital spending to $7 billion by 2020 from an average of $8.5 billion a year during the 2017-2019 period.

2022 Cadillac Lyriq launch is running ahead of schedule

General Motors says all of the components and technologies in the Cadillac Lyriq electric crossover have passed the 80% validation benchmark. As a new video shows, getting to this point has included plenty of real-world driving on gravel, ice, and snow at the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds in Wanaka, New Zealand, as well as hours of jostling on suspension rigs and aero work in the lab. A voiceover in the video has a GM worker saying the Lyriq has "a lot of potential as far as setting a new benchmark for ride and handling in the segment, the brand's ride and handling mission statement said to be called "Isolated Precision." Having proved the substance of the foundation, engineers can spend the next six months or so fine tuning the vehicle's touchpoints. Lyriq customers will get the final say on all of this early next year, around eight months earlier than planned. In August 2020 when Cadillac officially revealed the Lyriq, the automaker said it wouldn't hit the market until late 2022. According to General Motors, the compressed development schedule is thanks to the "modular and highly flexible qualities of the Ultium system, along with engineering advances in battery technology, use of virtual development tools and lessons learned during the Hummer EV development process." The model that comes first is the Lyriq Debut Edition, its single motor on the rear axle providing 340 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque. Juice comes from a 100-kWh Ultium battery pack that GM believes will be good for 300 miles of range on a charge. Home charging with the standard 11.5-kW charger restores needs a full overnight session to refill from empty, the optional 19.2-kW onboard charger takes about six hours, restoring roughly 52 miles or range per hour. Plugged into a DC fast charger, at the max 190 kW the Lyriq gains about 76 miles of range in 10 minutes. Production starts in Q1 next year at GM's Spring Hill, Tennessee facility that will built the other five Cadillac electric vehicles planned by 2025, and their batteries. Next summer Cadillac will reopen the Lyriq reservation system for series production models, among those being the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive performance trims. Related video:

2021 Cadillac CT5 adorned with Diamond Sky Special Edition Package

Among the changes due to appear on the 2021 Cadillac CT5 will be an exclusive Diamond Sky Special Edition Package. We don't have photos of the design theme yet, but Cadillac Society reports that the heaven-hued composition will only be available on the Premium Luxury trim. It starts with Diamond Sky Metallic paint that could provide perfect contrast for the Dark Sky Metallic offered on the GMC Sierra 1500. The CT5 goes all-in with the exterior color, dressing the rocker moldings and rear diffuser in Diamond Sky Metallic, and sitting on 19-inch wheels with a Diamond Cut/Midnight Silver finish. Tucked behind the wheels, buyers will find blue Brembo V Performance brake calipers. And having decided that standard taillamps will detract from the effect, for the first time on a non-V and non-V Sport Cadillac, the special edition CT5 will get clear taillights with a gray-tinted outer lens. The interior fabric comes in Sky Cool Gray with a Diamond Fall seat perforation pattern, offset with Jet Black accents, Galaxy Wood trim, and alloy pedals.  In typical Cadillac fashion, getting the Diamond Sky Special Edition Package will necessitate ordering another package when ordering opens next year. The required Climate Package bundles heated and ventilated driver and front passenger seats and an automatic heated steering wheel, and costs $1,090 in 2020. Elsewhere for the CT5 and the CT4, the next model year delivers a 12-inch customizable digital gauge cluster, plus the option of Super Cruise. Some of the changes already outlined for the 2021 CT5-V are likely headed to the CT5, so in the case of Super Cruise, for instance, checking that option could get real pricey, requiring the $1,300 Driver Awareness Plus Package as well as either the $8,330 Platinum Package or $1,950 Driver Assist Package.  Related Video: