General Motors has responded to critics of its potential deal with electric and hybrid vehicle maker Workhorse, which has expressed interest in purchasing the now defunct Lordstown Assembly Complex in Ohio.
GM’s deal with Workhorse was first announced by US President Donald Trump last month, with Trump writing in a tweet that GM had agreed to sell the 6.2 million sq. ft. facility to Workhorse pending an agreement with the UAW.
Following the announcement, media pundits and industry experts expressed doubt over the Workhorse sale, as the company has less than 100 employees on its payroll and is reportedly in poor financial standing.
GM CEO Mary Barra has now hit back at those critics, however, saying GM properly researched Workhorse before entering discussions with the company and also adding that it had other companies to potentially sell the factory to.
“We remain thinking it’s a strong possibility and think people should focus on opportunity and maybe every now and then a little optimism wouldn’t hurt anyone,” Barra told Reuters in an interview.
Reuters also asked Barra if the Lordstown announcement was a PR stunt to save face after GM shuttered numerous US plants and laid off thousands of its employees, which she denied.
The UAW wants GM to keep Lordstown open and under its control – a topic that will be discussed during the UAW-GM labor talks this year. Barra was also in Washington today where she met with Ohio delegation members Rob Portman (R) and Sherrod Brown (D) to talk about the options for Lordstown.
Before production of the Chevrolet Cruze ended in March, the Lordstown Assembly site employed more than 1,600 workers. GM has transferred about 700 UAW workers from Lordstown to other US plants in its network.
Source: Reuters
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Comments
“We remain thinking it’s a strong possibility and think people should focus on opportunity and maybe every now and then a little optimism wouldn’t hurt anyone,”
And perhaps, MS Barra, getting your head out if the sand and living in the real world would not hurt you either.
STOP SAYING 1600 PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2 other shifts of 1600 each prior to the end of production in March!
Plus the thousands of support jobs related to GM in the area. Some estimates at 10 per every 1 GM job.
THERE WERE CLOSE TO 5000 GM workers at the plant 2 years ago.
GM has already broken up families, people have left loved ones behind, other sad stories of death from the stress involved with tis greed. God forbid a FedEx truck stops at your house with that dreaded force letter for you to move to Missouri.
YES THIS IS GOING ON!!!!!!!!!!!
Meanwhile GM invests in Mexico and South Korea for products that will be sold in the USA. These could have been built in Lordstown. Trailblazer! Encore GX! GMC Granite?! Lordstown is able to build these!
Let me guess….GMWORKHORSE (whatever this new “ENTITY” is called) will get the same type of subsidies/emissions credits Tesla is getting…….. that GM has been buying from Tesla.
INVEST IN THE UNITED STATES GM!
Then Machete Mary plays the overcapacity card after she added so much in countries outside the US. What a piece of work.
this reminds of what some companies do when they have a toxic asset.
they put some lipstick on it, give it a little money and spin it off and hope all of their troubles go away with it.
Optimism! In poor leadership, bad decisions, lackluster half baked products and poor customer service that never seems to improve. GM has a terrible track record and continuing on as if nothing is wrong will only cost them big in the long run.
Why even have a comments section if you’re not going to post what people have to say?
Wasn’t the Cruze hatchback only made in Mexico? Why is it shown here?
I am very pointed in general motors regarding lordstown plant. What they should be doing instead of closing plants is bringing new models like the Blazer to lordstown and not to Mexico or China very very sad. I am a long-time general motors supporter and I don’t think I will be anymore. America and its people should come first over corporate greed!!! GM can make plenty of money building the Blazer and other models here in the United States they just choose not to because their excessive profits are never enough. We work way too hard to put people out of work in this country.