As sales struggle to pick up, General Motors today announced that it’s ending production of the Chevy Volt, its plug-in hybrid vehicle. Production of the car will cease on March 1st, 2019. It’s part of a wider plan by the auto giant to reduce production in North America. GM is laying off thousands of workers as it’s also shutting down three of its manufacturing plants.
General Motors is executing its plan to stop production of a few brands that are not selling well. For this reason, the company will be shutting down its plants in Oshawa, Ontario; Detroit, Michigan; and Warren, Ohio. The future of these plants remains uncertain. The company added that it’s making $3 to $3.8 billion in changes so that it can generate around $6 billion in positive cash flow by 2020.
GM is also going to layoff salaried executive employees and contract staff by 15 percent. This will result in 25 percent fewer executives to streamline decision making. The Associated Press reports that this change will result in an estimated 14,000 factory and white-collar employees losing their jobs.
This is the biggest restructuring that General Motors has performed in North America ever since its bankruptcy about a decade ago. Investors seemed to like the decisions announced as the company’s shares rose 7.6 percent soon after the news became public.
Filed in . Read more about General Motors.