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GM CEO Mary Barra Still Won’t Commit To Lordstown Plant’s Future

General Motors CEO Mary Barra remains tight-lipped on the future of the Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant. According to a report from the Columbus Dispatch, the CEO once again failed to reassure workers’ futures at the facility, which exclusively builds the Chevrolet Cruze sedan for the United States market.

Barra reportedly sat down with Ohio Senator Rob Portman (R), who “pressed” the CEO to make a commitment to the plant’s future. According to the senator, she wouldn’t give a public commitment.

GM Lordstown Plant Exterior Home of the Chevrolet Cruze poster

Senator Portman said he “pressed her to make a public commitment to the Lordstown plant and reinvest its workforce. I am disappointed she did not do so, but I’m going to keep fighting for this community.”

The Republican senator’s meeting with Barra follows a similar meeting between the GM CEO and Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown. Ohio’s other senator reportedly questioned Barra on why the Lordstown plant wasn’t considered for 2019 Chevrolet Blazer production, which Barra said would be “too expensive” to retool the Ohio plant. Senator Brown said he continued to speak with President Trump about assistance for the Ohio manufacturing plant.

2016 Chevrolet Cruze Reveal July 2015 Lordstown Plant

Lordstown has undergone a fall from grace since the first-generation Chevrolet Cruze. The plant once ran with three shifts, but the workforce as dwindled to just one shift of workers to build the compact sedan. The latest round of layoffs perhaps stung the most; as 1,500 workers lost their jobs, GM announced plans to build the 2019 Blazer in Mexico.

UAW members have also appealed to President Trump to intervene in the situation. This past summer, UAW Local 1112 President David Green penned a letter to the president asking for some sort of assistance after the latest round of tax cuts for corporations, including GM.

2012 Chevrolet Cruze production at Lordstown plant 04

“The fact (is) that many of our workers here in Ohio voted for you, and for you to remain silent on this issue is disturbing. What’s more, GM recently received a huge tax break through the new tax policy. The cut in the corporate tax rate will save General Motors billions of dollars,” Green wrote this past July.

Both Senators Portman and Brown said GM “must keep the Lordstown plant open” and both will continue fighting for a positive resolution.

Former GM Authority staff writer.

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Comments

  1. It is just plain sad that Barra doesn’t see why this car is failing so bad. Her only two focuses seem to be profits above all else and her all electric self driven fantasy future. Meanwhile cars like the Impala, Malibu, Cruze, LaCrosse and most of Cadillac’s sedans are slowly rotting away much faster than rivals sedans. It is sickening to a long time car guy like me to watch. Strong words but I am a car fan and could care a less about CUV’s and self driving vehicles.

    Reply
    1. How do you know she doesn’t know what is going on? They can’t just completely change the car right now. CUV’s are where the bread and butter are so as a company they have to make money. Nobody ath company has said besides the media that they were getting rid of cars. They have made great strides in the last couple of years. Yes there has been missteps but turning the culture around at a big company can take many years.

      Reply
      1. I only have to go back to the earlier years when they were bankrupt. GM is showing thier true colors.. i will never buy a gm product. After watching thier misleading advertisements about ford truck that seals it for me. You can change the culture but the damage is done.

        Reply
    2. The Cruze was awarded to a Lordstown as a reward for the UAW working with GM so well.

      No one forsaw the market in cars dropping out like a trap door.

      There was no short term plan for the plant if the car struggled as no one expected this.

      Here is where th e problem is. Lordstown is one of the largest GM plants in the country. It needs volume to live.

      GM has had a good relationship with the union local and would like to retain that. The trick now is to find a way to make the plant live on but that is going to take time, investment and timing of new product.

      All the small cars are hurting. The Honda Accord is down on sales for the last 10 months and soon will be 11.

      GM really needs to move a CUV here but they are already committed short term to other plants. You can not just change plants on a whim as you have signed agreements with the unions.

      I get it you love cars but the reality is you are no longer in the majority.

      I myself am a RWD V8 car fan but today I am in a world of fwd utility vehicles.

      Times change and taste change should you live long enough.

      GM is committed to selling what is going to make money. They could thumb their nose to CUV models like they did to small cars in the 70’s and play a losing game.

      While we as enthusiast think with the love of product companies if they plan to survive need to think about selling what the majority wants and make money doing it.

      Reply
      1. The problem is Lordstown is one of the worst plants for quality and productivity. Go look at a row of cars built at Lordstown on a dealer lot and notice how every one has panel alignment issues in different ways.

        Good riddance to that place.

        Reply
    3. It seems that old habits die hard at GM. Barra and Ruess unfortunately were part of the Roger Smith management tree. I see GM making the same mistakes they made in the 1980s: diversifying into areas that are non-value-added to the corporation (then it was EDS and Hughes, now it is self-driving cars that are become less popular by the week) and bringing products out at a glacial pace. Geeze, it seems that we have been hearing about this Cadillac “renaissance” for ten years now.

      Reply
  2. Maybe Republican Sen. Portman could talk to Trump about the 25% steel tariffs that make the Cruze unprofitable to manufacture in the U.S. Mexico and Canada don’t have those tariffs so making cars there simply makes more sense.

    Unless Ohio gives GM huge tax breaks, Lordstown is toast. You made your bed, now lie in it Ohio.

    Reply
    1. But what about the major tax cuts corporations got from Trump? Why are those not being reinvested in American plants?

      Reply
      1. Reinvesting in the U.S. would not be profitable with the steel tariffs. GM can’t lose money and stay in business.

        Reply
  3. General Motors should convert the factory to build the Chevrolet Equinox and Buick Envision CUV as both are good sellers which means the factory could have work for at least a decade.

    Reply
    1. GM should convert the factory into a monument to Trump’s steel tariffs so future generations know what happened. Americans completely forgot the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930 and now we are repeating that history.

      Reply
      1. Should turn the plant into a museum of the steel industry that the unions and Clinton ran out of town with demands for higher wages then permitting cheap steel imports from China

        They both devastated the area.

        If Clinton had stopped it the steel would have come from Youngstown 10 miles away.

        Reply
        1. Couldn’t agree with you more Scott3.
          NAFTA and the Trans Pacific Partnership was Clinton’s monster that sucked the life out of Detroit and other American manufacturers. It’s no secret how terrible of a deal that was, and how many jobs were lost because of it. At least Trump defused TPP.

          Reply
  4. Having worked in an assembly plant I know you just don’t wave a wand to convert the plant to build a new vehicle. A whole new body shop probably would have to be built plus changes to the body carriers through the paint and general assembly departments. Auto plants in Mexico are a lot less automated from what I’ve heard and less tooling would be needed

    Reply
    1. Thank youJohn for the post of reality.

      Reply
    2. No one’s talking about an immediate change. The three row Blazer also puts a question mark on the medium term viability of the Tennessee factory that makes the Arcada, which uses the same platform.

      Reply
  5. Given how decontented the 2019 Cruze is (genuine leather is no longer available – only leatherette, the 8″ touchscreen is no longer an option – 7″ across the board, albeit with the new Chevy Infotainment 3, no color DIC, no manual transmission – likely only a big deal for the diesels), I don’t expect the car will see a large sales drop (which, I believe is quite intention), which will allow GM to have a reason to discontinue it.

    Reply
    1. Cruze is the bottom of the market because it is a sedan and economy car. Also, the fuel economy isn’t the best in class and it costs too much.

      OTOH, Chevy could transform it into a mini muscle car by installing the Camaro turbo 4 which would generate some attention and be easy to do.

      Reply
  6. GM is supposed to be the flagship automaker of the United States. Yet Ford employs more US hourly workers than GM, and most of the transplants build a higher percentage of vehicles in the US for sale in the US than GM. When a company is making record profits yet is constantly laying off American workers there is something wrong.

    Reply
  7. GM
    Hi my husband and I bought our cruze last August
    And I like the car I would even buy another one. I
    Wouldn’t close the plant keep making the cruze
    I also like the malibu and after I get my cruze pd
    Down we will probably get a equinox not sure if
    We will leaae or buy it I might trade my cruze in
    For one with more stuff on it

    Reply

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