mobile-menu-icon
GM Authority

Ohio Governor Says GM Is Actively Looking For Company To Take Over Lordstown Plant

As the GM Lordstown plant prepares for its final day in one week, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R), said the automaker is actively seeking a company to take over the plant.

It’s unclear what kind of deal that could mean as the governor did not use the words “buy” or “purchase,” but said GM suggested it wants to find someone to “take over” the Lordstown plant, according to a report from local newspaper The Vindicator. Governor DeWine added the automaker hasn’t given the state any indication that it plans to allocate a new vehicle to the assembly plant.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine

Of the two car plants GM plans to take offline in the next year, the Detroit-Hamtramck plant has the better chance of reopening after it goes offline in January 2020. GM recently gave the plant a stay of execution as it announced plans to continue building the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac CT6 at the Michigan plant for another seven months. The plant was slated to go idle this summer.

However, production at the Lordstown plant will cease on March 8 and it will effectively axe the Chevrolet Cruze from the automaker’s passenger car portfolio. Lordstown has a long history of building compact cars dating back to the Cavalier. It’s also been a target of GM for closure for decades, dating back to Cavalier production.

2016 Chevrolet Cruze Reveal July 2015 Lordstown Plant

As GM gives Ohio government officials hope that the plant may not be an entire goner, Governor DeWine added the state will assist GM or any other company with state money and resourced to seal a deal. He added if GM and another company reach a point where there could be a deal, Ohio wants to be closely involved because “we need to be involved early” in the process, DeWine said. He underscored his government wants to show any prospective company interested in Lordstown what the state can offer.

The Lordstown plant won’t officially have a death sentence until GM and the United Auto Workers union hash out a new labor agreement. The current agreement expires Sept. 14 and GM will need to negotiate the Lordstown plant’s closure as part of any new contract. Hundreds of employees have already accepted transfer offers to other GM plants in the U.S., however.

Former GM Authority staff writer.

Subscribe to GM Authority

For around-the-clock GM news coverage

We'll send you one email per day with the latest GM news. It's totally free.

Comments

  1. Elon is waiting for it to close so he can scoop it up without utilizing Union workers.

    Reply
    1. Yep just what the folks in the Mahoning Vally needs is wacko Musk to come in with his shell game and end up in jail on a SEC violation killing the company.

      Let’s first let GM unroll their plans as there may be a future yet for them or GM may be able to facilitate a sale to someone stable should they choose not to come back.

      Reply
    2. Notice how Sean goes to great lengths to conceal the Ohio Governor is REPUBLICAN? Never happens when it is from the other party…then it is proudly displayed in the title (and a huge photo on the link if it is a “minority” or female (not minority) governor) and repeated often in the story. Watch, you will see.

      Poor Social Justice “Warrior” Sean still butt hurt 2+ years after the election.

      The people of Ohio, me included, just voted in a great Republican (read: not donkey-crat) for a reason.

      Reply
  2. coming off his bigly success summit with kim, the great negotiator/deal maker will have no problem finding a fantastic beautiful manufacturer to take over. MAGA!!!

    Reply
    1. The summit was not a success. No deal was reached. Trump walked away. Talks stopped. It’s beginning to look a lot like ‘The Art of No Deal’

      Reply
      1. it was a bigly unadulterated magnificent display of cunning and statesmanship by our great president. here is an abbreviated list of our great leader’s accomplishments.

        1)our great leader cleared great leader kim of any responsibility for otto warmbier’s death. the most likely cause was otto slipping on a bar of soap in the prison shower or bad kimchi fried rice.

        2)our great leader racked up bigly air miles rewards saving the taxpayers millions.

        3)mcdonald’s in hanoi experienced a 500% increase in business during our great leader’s stay. our great leader just can’t help boosting the economy with his mere presence.

        winning baby!!!! MAGA 2020!!!!

        Reply
      2. Zach, you lost. Time to Move On Lil guy.

        Safe space?

        Reply
    2. Here is the deal. They knew going in that he was going to walk away. N Korea is not ready to give us what we want yet.

      Walking away sent a message wecwill not play their games and it puts Kim on the spot as he is looking a fool in his country. The people there are taught he is a god. But Trump walks and flys away while he makes a long slow train trip to N Korea.

      With the economic sanctions in place his people will know he has failed even if he hides the news.

      Trump did this right and proved he is not willing to make peace till the the terms are right.

      There are some very good people behind our negotiations and with him treating Kim nice but slamming him puts Kim on the spot.

      The truth is he has no idea what Trump is willing to do as he has given both extremes. That is good negotiation as you never show all your cards.

      It worked for a Reagan too.

      Reply
  3. PSA Group has decided to enter the U.S. market again with Peugeot (instead of Opel). They’ve apparently done a pretty darned good job of turning Opel around to become a one BILLION dollar profit winner. Anyone who can accomplish that deserves a shot at the Lordstown plant.

    GM has kept their thumb firmly planted on way too many of its projects for far too long and driven most of them into the ground (Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Saab, Opel (since 1923!) et al ) – even the Corvette was considered for the chopping block! If GM prefers building its vehicles in Mexico and China (cheaper labor) only to “import” them into North America and thereby gradually divesting itself of many of its North American holdings, at least let someone else (PSA) who was able to turn a long-time GM money loser (Opel) around in a couple of years have a go at it! Maybe they’ll care more about their own product and the economy in which it operates rather than purely its own bottom line.

    Reply
    1. Oh yes a Quirky French car that unless they undercut the other brands on price will struggle in the contracting American market.

      Let’s face it Peugeot is not know for class leading cars. They are entering a contracting North American market at one of the wort times ever.

      How long till the French surrender again in this country after how many failed attempts.

      Convert it into the rejected Amazon facility that is not going to NYC. The Folks here would love it and the housing and cost of living are so much better here.

      Reply
      1. That “quirky” company did something Barra and her predecessors could not do: turn a profit. Regarding Amazon, Ohio does not have enough money to lure it and it is not “urban” enough for Amazon.

        Reply
        1. Reply
          1. You’re the fool, fool.

            Opel was looking money when PSA cut, not making record profits like GM was.

            I don’t hate GM, on the contrary. I do hate their management- the one that cannot do any wrong in your pea brained world.

            Incidentally, I do not live in Canada and am not a member of any union. It is just that I have something you don’t – common sense.

            Reply
            1. Lol! You are delusionaly funny.

              Reply
      2. Oh Scott…..tsk, tsk, tsk! Every once in a great while a less “stale” but more “judicious” POV from you would liven up some of our discussions.

        Are you able to specifically name which and what type of vehicles Peugeot currently builds (without needing a web search, beforehand)? Let’s face it; that POV is far beyond cynical and a rather long-gone stereotype.

        Many of GM’s vehicles built as far back as the mid-late 1970’s were pitiful failures (read; “import-fighters”) and, 45+ years onward, they still haven’t been able to build a steady and varied fleet of fuel efficient vehicles and / or value leaders (read; Honda, Toyota, Lexus, et al).

        Instead, rather than admit to widespread failure, “we” bash these brands and the likes of CR, because, after all, GM has (begrudgingly) conceded that market niche to those others, but, we’d never admit to it, of course – not in this or any other lifetime, for that matter. Let’s also not forget THE biggest culprit of all – the American car buyer!

        There was a time when GM succeeded in being better because they tried longer and harder than the others. In all fairness to GM, it has built its share of “one-hit-wonders” over the past few decades.

        Reply
        1. I have previewed their present line of products and see how they offer nothing more than anyone else.

          The reality is the American market is crowded with similar cars and unless they can offer them more cheaply few will move from their present brands to model unknown or proven to them.

          The history of these products als is not one they can fall back on as Americans mostly viewed A Peugeot as th3 car that always gets blown up in the movie about terrorist.

          The most famous one here is the one Columbo drive on TV.

          It is a tough time for any car company as we see but even tougher for a largely unknown brand with a checkered past to move into the American market.

          They will fail just as Fiat has again.

          Reply
          1. You mean the same Fiat that took remnants of the former chrysler and made something of them?

            Reply
            1. Still can’t sell a Fiat if their future depended on it.

              Anyone can sell a old Chrysler discounted heavily.

              Reply
            2. “former chrysler and made something of them?”

              With Mercedes leftovers from 20 years ago and minivan?

              Are you high?

              That’s not Fiat making something of them, it’s an admission of defeat by non-competitiveness. If you can’t offer the public the best product with he best of today’s technology and engineering, your only option is to lower your price and take a lower place in the market.

              Guess which one Chrysler is in?

              All they have are unit sales. The consumers, however, gets one of the worst deprecating cars on sale today.

              And you think that’s something for GM to be envious of?

              Reply
              1. Let’s see- those “20 year old” leftovers are selling well such as the Challenger that consistently outsells the “new” Alpha-based Camaro.

                You also forget that little FCA franchise called Ram who is now outselling Silverado on a regular basis.

                GM hardly has the best product in any category. Its interiors are outclassed by almost every competitor due to Barra’s cost cutting.

                FCA is adding jobs and plants, not cutting staff.

                Yes, you are right, GM does not need to be envious of FCA or anyone else.

                Reply
                1. Let’s see who is making more money per car sold
                  And whose stock price is more than twice of the other.

                  FCA got rid of their cars other than the dinosaur cars 9 years ago and close plants as the cut lines. The RWD cars only account for less than 100k units each while vehicles like Nox sell nearly 500k.

                  FCA has Jeep that makes money what are they adding Jeep. Ram makes money but not as much as GM or Ford.

                  What about all the FCA plants in Mexico. They have more than GM but you remain silent.

                  How about the Jeeps made in Italy and Mexico? You remain silent on them also.

                  You generally only address part of the story but not all.

                  Come back and talk when FCA stock is $39 a share.

                  Reply
                  1. GMs stock price is high because they cut jobs, shut plants, and cut costs all to give the shareholders more short tem dividends and appease the anal-ists on Wall Street. Come back 3 years from now when GMs product lineup has been decimated because Barra cut engineering and design, market share has tumbled when further, and her unicorn vision will just a big a fantasy as it is now. Come back 3 years from now after the “magic” of cost cutting is gone and there is nothing left to cut and GM will have to deliver on world class product in order to compete, yet they won’t have any because they tried to save a buck today. By then GMs stock should be well in the teens.

                    BTW, FCA has nearly zero industrial debt and less of its product lineup is imported in from countries like Mexico, China, and South Korea. With the addition of 6500 jobs in the US, FCA should also be employing more Americans than GM.

                    Reply
    2. I prefer an American car company like Tesla take over Lordstown than another foreign Auto Maker.

      Reply
      1. They would be better off with Amazon

        Reply
  4. If only there was a federal credit for buying an American brand/made car of say $1500/each… that might have supported more good paying American manufacturing jobs. After the Republican 1.3 trillion tax cut to the rich, perhaps they could have carved out a credit to incite a “buy American incentive” and so skimmed off a CHUNK of market share from Japanese and Korean compact sedan segment… and thus keep Lordstown OPEN. Geez…afterall Midwest farmers just got a handout because Republicans gave away the soybean market to fight and loose the trade war. A little help to our American auto workers would have been fair play. Missed opportunity.
    – opinion from owner of 2 Cruzes and a Volt

    Reply
    1. Lordstown has nothing to do with politics. It doesn’t matter if Trump or Hillary were President or anyone else.
      The Lordstown plant is closing due to GM making another completely lackluster Product in a Hotly contested segment. Why is this so hard to understand? I love GM as much as anyone but the Cruze is barely adequate in todays market in the segment. This is 100% on GM and nothing else.
      Make better cars and the buying public will open their wallets. It really is that simple. Name me one car in which GM is the leader in that Segment (besides Corvette and Camaro) GM charges as much as Honda does for the Civic and as much as I hate to admit this, the Cruze is almost a joke when compared to it. The new Corolla is freaking better. The new Jetta. The Imprezza. The Mazda 3. The Kia and Hyundai.
      MAKE BETTER CARS. SIMPLE AS THAT!!!
      I would love for Tesla to own the Factory. American Comapny and the Future Technology. It would be win/win for Ohio.

      Reply
      1. Agree it is not political.

        But the Auto segment is far from hotly contested anymore with everyone is seeing declining sales.

        Hotly contested is the CUV market.

        Even better cars will not see much increase in sales.

        Reply
  5. Replace Cruze with a CT4 based Chevy Nova…..

    Reply

Leave a comment

Cancel