General Motors (GM) has announced the closure of 7 plants across the world. The company has also decided to reduce 15% of its staff. This move will include cutting down the number of executives by 25%.
GM expects an increased capacity utilization and cash savings up to US$ 6 billion by the end of 2020 with this move. Assembly plants at Oshawa in Ontario, Canada, Detroit-Hamtramck in Detroit and Lordstown in Warren, Ohio and the propulsion plants of Baltimore Operations in White Marsh, Maryland and Warren Transmission in Warren, Michigan are scheduled to be shut down in 2019. Apart from these plants, which are in North America, two more plants outside the continent are expected to be shut down by the end of 2019. The company had already announced the closure of assembly plant in Gunsan, Korea.
Cars like the Chevrolet Cruze, Volt and Impala will be discontinued along with Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac XTS and Cadillac CT6. Going forward, the company is planning to focus on the production of electric and autonomous cars.
GM plans to focus on the optimization of its vehicle architectures including trucks, crossovers and SUVs. The company is also looking to invest in battery-electric architectures. It expects that 75% of its global sales volume will come from 5 vehicle architectures by early next decade.
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