GM to close more plants, cut 25,000 jobs
WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - news) expects to close more assembly and component plants over the next few years, slashing about 25,000 manufacturing jobs, as it battles high costs and shrinking market share, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday.
Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner also told the annual meeting that GM, which lost $1.1 billion in the first quarter, expects to save $2.5 billion a year from the cost-cutting measures.
The world's largest automaker, whose shares were up 2.3 percent, has been closing and idling plants over the past four years, reducing its annual assembly capacity from six million vehicles in 2002 to five million by the end of this year.
A benchmark annual report on North American manufacturing operations released last week ranked GM last among leading automakers in its assembly plant capacity utilization rate.
The report, prepared by Harbour Consulting of Troy, Michigan, said GM used 85 percent of its North American plant capacity in 2004, compared with a utilization rate of 107 percent at Toyota Motor Corp.
WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - news) expects to close more assembly and component plants over the next few years, slashing about 25,000 manufacturing jobs, as it battles high costs and shrinking market share, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday.
Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner also told the annual meeting that GM, which lost $1.1 billion in the first quarter, expects to save $2.5 billion a year from the cost-cutting measures.
The world's largest automaker, whose shares were up 2.3 percent, has been closing and idling plants over the past four years, reducing its annual assembly capacity from six million vehicles in 2002 to five million by the end of this year.
A benchmark annual report on North American manufacturing operations released last week ranked GM last among leading automakers in its assembly plant capacity utilization rate.
The report, prepared by Harbour Consulting of Troy, Michigan, said GM used 85 percent of its North American plant capacity in 2004, compared with a utilization rate of 107 percent at Toyota Motor Corp.
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