United States automotive giant General Motors plans to reduce its workforce by 15% in an attempt to boost profits.  By the end of 2019, they plan to end production at the Lordstown Assembly plant in northwest Ohio, the Detroit-Hamtramck plant in southeast Michigan, the Oshawa Assembly plant in Ontario, the Baltimore plant, and Warren Transmission Operations in southeast Michigan.  With the closing of these plants, General Motors plans to discontinue the Cruze, Volt, Impala, LaCrosse, XTS, and CT6.

This plan is due to General Motors’ plan to rework their company to build more electric vehicles.  The cars that are ending production are a reflection of the market demand for more SUVs and crossovers.  These are the first plants to close in North America since General Motors’ government buyout in 2010. General Motors has 54,000 salaried workers in North America, which means nearly 8,000 positions will be lost.  Buyouts were offered to 18,000 workers several weeks ago. General Motors spokesman Pat Morrissey said, “We did not get the 8,000 needed in reduction through voluntary buyouts.” It seems that layoffs are inevitable in the near future.  With stocks still on the rise at the time of writing, it will be interesting to watch the market value over the next few weeks.