88,000 less trucks and 50,000 less SUVs will be produced annually.

 

That is a good thing, keep supply tight and resale higher.

 

this is not a good thing for me. more than likely im headed for permanant layoff.

 

850 jobs per plant will be eliminated. GM believes that higher gas prices and lower truck/SUV sales to be permanent. Plants to be affected are Flint, Pontiac east, Janesville and Oshawa.

 

Anyone really surprised by this? GM is doing what it needs to due to stay profitable.

 

The market is speaking and it sounds like GM is being forced to listen.

I hope that GM can find a way to re-purpose some of their production capacity toward something the market wants.

I really hate seeing people lose their jobs.

 

These plants have been idled since the American Axle strike 9 weeks ago. GM had a 150 day supply of trucks and SUVs at the time, so they had enough supply for the 2008 model year. The layoffs go in effect on July 14, when 2009 model year production begins. If truck/SUV sales decline further, GM will have to adjust supply again.

 

Agreed.
I do too, however what's the point of building vehicles that won't sell?

It's time to start considering building more economical vehicles or changing the ones they have.

 

Er, GM needs to get profitable before it can stay profitable. And a fall-off in truck sales will not help.

Now that both Ford and GM have confessed to thinking that fuel prices will permanently stay high, it should be interesting to see how consumers change their habits. This ain't anything like the months immediately after Katrina, for example.

 

I hate to see it as well, but I bet it cost a lot of money to switch a plant to build another vehicle. The problem is, I don't think GM is having a shortage of vehicles of any other type right now.

 

Ford's KTP has several planned down weeks coming up as well

 

Less repeat GM customers I bet now huh?

 

One year ago average US regular gas price was $2.97/gal. Its now $3.65/gal. Consumers are taking notice and adjusting their buying habits accordingly. GM and Ford trucks took a hit in April again as Silverado sales were down 24.7% over same period last year, Sierra sales down 21.7% over April 07 and F series trucks down 21% over April 07 numbers.