Coinciding with Monday's bankruptcy filing, GM executives are following through with plans announced earlier this year to shut down more than a dozen plants around the country as the auto maker tries to tighten its belt.
What exactly does this mean to the Mahoning Valley? Despite countless reassurances that Lordstown is safe, there are those who are still somewhat skeptical. It is still a certainty that Lordstown will play a prominent role in GM's future. Although car production at the Lordstown complex has been stopped for an extended summer break as GM tries to thin out its capacity, that doesn't necessarily mean all work there has shut down.
Executives held a conference call with reporters and they explained work is being done to prepare the facility for the new Chevy Cruze, which is set to begin full-scale production next summer. The company's Vice President for North American manufacturing, Tim Lee, says work on the Cruze is proceeding "exactly according to plan" and that everything is full speed ahead. "We are currently building Cruzes in our pre-production shops in Michigan with our view that we should be building prototype vehicles in that plant before the end of this year for sure."
While executives said many of the plants now targeted for closure were either making vehicles or parts that simply weren't performing, or were duplicating work of other facilities, they say Lordstown fits a number of the strengths the so-called "new GM" will need to survive, like having assembly and fabricating operations right next to each other, and having a new state-of-the-art paint shop.
For now, Cruzes are being built in Asia and will soon be on-line in Europe. However, executives stress Lordstown will be the only spot making Cruzes for sale in this country with the auto maker having some very high hopes the new model will mean good things for GM.
