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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.

GM follows Ford and Honda in skipping SEMA

The list of automakers skipping SEMA has become longer. First reported by Muscle Cars and Trucks, and confirmed to us by a company representative, General Motors will not have an official presence at the aftermarket show. It joins Ford and Honda in leaving the show. It will be a large hole in the show, with the GM brands typically filling a significant swath of available show space in one of the main halls. GM hasn't provided much explanation for the move, either. The GM representative provided Autoblog with the same statement that Muscle Cars and Trucks got: "GM has made the decision not to participate in the 2022 SEMA Show. The SEMA show has always inspired us, and accessories and performance parts remain an important part of our business." We also asked if we would see any sort of announcements around the time of the show — Ford said it has plans to share some things around that time — however, the GM representative said that the company has no immediate plans for announcements. Certainly things could change between now and the November show, though. SEMA had previously noted that other exhibitors would help fill in some of the space vacated by these major OEMs. Another OEM, Volkswagen, is returning to the show after an absence, which will also help with the display deficit. Related Video:

December sales for Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf are what you expected

It was another month of as-expected sales for the two pioneering plug-in vehicles in the US. The Nissan Leaf is basically treading water and the new-generation Chevy Volt is getting back to old habits with a big increase in sales compared to where the car was last year. It wasn't a surprising month, but there wasn't any reason to expect a surprise. In fact, we don't suspect this trend to veer too far from where it's at right now until gas prices shoot up or Nissan introduces a new Leaf. Neither of those things is likely to happen any time soon. Let's start with the mediocre news. Nissan reported today that Leaf sales for December 2015 totaled 1,347 units. That's a 56.6-percent drop from where the Leaf was a year ago, and contributed to the all-electric vehicle's 42.8-percent drop in 2015 sales compared to 2014. This past year, 17,269 people bought Leafs, down from 30,200 who did so in 2014. The Volt sold 2,114 copies last month, bringing the plug-in hybrids 2015 total up to 15,393. That's an 18.1 percent drop from the 18,805 Volts sold in 2014. We shouldn't see the past year as a total flop for the Volt, though, since the much-improved second-generation model was introduced late in the year. In fact, if we just look at December 2015 and compare it to the last month of 2014, we see the Volt was able to post a 41.9-percent increase. It'll be quite fun to see where the Volt's numbers go in 2016. As you probably know, we'll have our complete wrap up of green car sales for you soon. Stay tuned. News Source: Nissan, Chevy Green Chevrolet Nissan Electric Hybrid ev sales