GM to Temporarily Shut Some Canadian Plants in January
DETROIT — General Motors of Canada Ltd. said Wednesday that it was temporarily shutting down some Canadian assembly and parts plants in early January because of soft vehicle demand mostly in the United States.
About 17,700 workers would be affected, the company said.
Nick Hall, GM of Canada spokesman, said by telephone that the company’s two car assembly plants in Oshawa and its full-size van plant in Scarborough, all in Ontario, would be closed for the week of Jan. 2.
He also said the Ste. Therese, Quebec, car assembly plant would be closed for two weeks beginning at the same time. Two parts plants will be shut down briefly this month.
U.S. car and light truck sales have taken a nose dive since Oct. 1.
The two car assembly operations at Oshawa make the Chevrolet Lumina coupe and sedan and the Buick Regal, and together employ about 9,000 hourly workers. Hall declined to say how many unsold cars were on dealer lots.
The Ste. Therese plant employs about 3,200 hourly workers and makes the Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera and the Chevrolet Celebrity station wagon. The Scarborough van plant has about 2,300 hourly employees and the two component plants employ about 3,200 people together.
Ward’s Automotive Reports, a weekly newsletter of the auto industry, said that as of Oct. 31, 1989, the latest figures available, U.S. dealers had a 67-day supply of Luminas and a 163-day supply of Regals.
