GM To Lay Off 2,000 Workers

OMG: The day after the 2016 election for president, General Motors announced it was laying off another 2,000 workers in plants in Ohio and Michigan, two states that gave President-elect Donald Trump a major victory on Tuesday...

GM said the layoffs will affect the third shifts in the plants in Lordstown, Ohio, and Lansing, Michigan, which build the low-selling cars sold under the Chevrolet and Cadillac brand names.

“The Lordstown plant builds the compact Chevrolet Cruze, whose U.S. sales through October were down 20%,” Fortune magazine reported. “The Lansing Grand River plant builds the Cadillac ATS and CTS, whose sales were down 17% through October.”

For the uniformed: earlier this year, General Motors informed investors and the car-buying public that it was increasing its presence in Mexico by investing upwards to $691 million to build new plants and expand current ones south of the border - At the time of the announcement, GM Mexico President Ernesto Hernandez celebrated the investment for what it will do for the Mexican economy.

With this announcement, its hard not to speculate that such action was done the day after the election in order to avert the effect such an announcement would possibly have had on the election if done prior - however, such claims are just speculation at this point, but if confirmed would not be a surprise to anyone. 

In any event, GM tried to save face by pointed out how it is investing in new manufacturing lines in the U.S.

According to Forbes:

GM also announced plans to invest more than $900 million in three facilities to prepare for future product programs. GM says it will invest $667.6 million at its Toledo transmission factory for a new generation of transmissions, $211 million at the Lansing Grand River assembly plant for an unspecified “new product program,” and $37 million at its Bedford casting facility in Indiana, which makes transmission casings, converter housings, heads, and small gas engine blocks that are used in Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles.