General Motors Corp. (GM), fresh off a bankruptcy filling, said
Monday it will shutter 17 factories and parts centers by the end of
2011.
The auto maker released a list of plants that will close as part
of the company's plan to restructure under Chapter 11
protection.
The list includes seven factories in Michigan and plants in
Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee. Two of the closures had been
previously announced, including a castings factory in Massena,
N.Y., which closed May 1. Three of the facilities to close are
parts centers and three factories could reopen if market demand
rebounds.
The move was expected after GM cut a deal last month with the
United Auto Workers as parts of its effort to smooth the company's
path through bankruptcy. Around 20,000 factory jobs - more than
one-third of GM's U.S. hourly workforce - are slated to go under
the auto maker's plans.
The closures also include assembly plants in Orion, Mich, and
Pontiac, Mich, Spring Hill, Tenn., and Wilmington, Del. Stamping
plants in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Pontiac, Mich.; Indianapolis, Ind.;
and Mansfield, Ohio will close. Powertrain factories in Livonia,
Michi, Flint, Mich.; Willow Run, Mich.; and Parma, Ohio will close.
One idled factory will be converted to a small car plans where GM
will build a subcompact.
-By Sharon Terlep, Dow Jones Newswires