General Motors will lay off all 1,500 of its employees at the Rayong plant in Thailand after signing a binding agreement with China’s Great Wall Motors to sell the facility.
Jak Punchoopet, Thailand’s adviser to the Minister of Labor, told Reuters this week that GM’s agreement with Great Wall Motors did not include the transfer of employees. The Rayong plant is actually a complex of different manufacturing facilities and includes a vehicle assembly line as well as a powertrain and engine assembly line. Punchoopet said the first layoffs will hit the engine line before extending to the vehicle line later on.
“Their plan is to lay off 1,000 employees in the auto parts manufacturing line in June, and then around 300 to 400 in the assembly line in October,” he told Reuters.
GM must adhere to local Thai labor laws and provide some sort of severance package to employees that are laid off. Punchoopet said GM plans on providing former Rayong plant employees with a lump-sum bonus equivalent to four months of pay.
GM Southeast Asia marketing and communications director, Sean Poppitt, could not say whether any of its former Rayong workers may be rehired by Great Wall Motors when asked by Reuters.
The automaker announced earlier this week that it would sell the Rayong plant to Great Wall Motors and pull Chevrolet out of the Thai market. In a statement, GM said it “undertook a detailed analysis of the business case for future production at the Rayong manufacturing facility in Thailand,” and decided that “low plant utilization and forecast volumes have made continued GM production at the site unsustainable.”
“Our decision to cease production at the Rayong site is based on GM’s global strategy and optimization of our manufacturing footprint around the world. In this context, sale of the Rayong plants to (Great Wall Motors) is the best option to support future vehicle manufacturing at this site,” GM international operations senior VP Julian Blissett said.
Great Wall Motors is expected to build vehicles from its Haval crossover and SUV brand at the Rayong plant, which will be sold locally and exported to other nearby markets, such as Australia.
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Source: Reuters
Comments
The article mentions „GM international operations“ — does IO still have any functions after withdrawing from Indonesia, India, Australia & NZ, Thailand, Russia (end of branding the Lada Niva as a Chevrolet)?
What remains? Oh, South Korea.
GM IO once had its headquarter in Singapore. Will that also be dissolved? I don’t see a reason to keept.
Even the whole unit „GM IO“ doesn’t make any sense any more, when GM is limiting itself to China, North and South America.
Or do I miss something? Oh, maybe some small sales in Europe. 2019 in Germany alone 1’373 Chevrolet (Camaro and 3 „other“) and 397 Cadillac out of a total of 3’607’258 new car registrations.
Any news on the future of the 2.8L Duramax used in the Canyon/Colorado? Will the new 3L inline-6 fit?