General Motors (NYSE: GM) announced Tuesday that it is closing four truck and SUV plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The move will affect 10,000 workers as the automotive conglomerate makes changes during the current gas crisis and the consumer shift to smaller vehicles.
General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said Tuesday before the GM annual meeting in Delaware the plants to be closed are in Oshawa, Ontario; Moraine, Ohio; Janesville, Wis.; and Toluca, Mexico.
Wagoner said the GM board has approved production of a new small Chevrolet car at a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, in mid-2010 and production of the Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle in Detroit.
The closings will save the company $1 billion per year starting in 2010 and by 2011, GM will have cut costs by $15 billion a year over in 2005.
The GM board also approved the production schedule of the Chevrolet Volt and the company plans to unveil the Chevy electric car in showrooms by 2012.
When fully charged, the Volt could drive about 40 miles without using any gasoline, and a small conventional engine would recharge the vehicle, allowing it to get the equivalent of 150 miles per gallon. GM plans to sell about 100,000 Volts a year by 2012.
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