Will GM Weather This Bad Publicity Storm?
GM has caught a lot of heat in the last few weeks after announcing its plans to shut down five facilities in North America (four in the United States and one in Canada) and shed approximately 14,800 workers. The company claims it’s a restructuring effort to preserve cash and accelerate investment in electric and autonomous vehicles.
In Detroit, where the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant’s closure will leave the Motor City with only one auto factory left within its borders, the economic hit – especially to the enclave municipality of Hamtramck – will be severe. Some Michiganders don’t seem too sad to see them go ...
... while some residents are even openly wondering if the neighborhood that was razed in the early 80's to build GM’s facility can now be revived.
In Lordstown, Ohio, home to a facility that currently makes the Chevy Cruze, the community is laying out to keep auto manufacturing in town. Schoolkids are writing letters. Elon Musk (the guy in the middle) is musing about buying the plant. State lawmakers are bending GM CEO Mary Barra’s well-compensated ear (she says she’ll keep an “open mind”), and some federal representatives are at odds with President Trump about whether the company deserves to lose the benefits of tax credits pulled.
All in all, It’s not a good look for General Motors, which took $49.5 billion from the governmentjust a decade ago to avoid bankruptcy, and saved approximately $150 million through its third fiscal quarter off this year's Republican tax cut, to now lay off almost 15,000 American employees.
But, there’s a bit of good news for the company! The ongoing trade negotiations between the Trump administration and the Chinese government have reportedly produced lower Chinese import tariffs on automobiles. That has caused GM’s stock to rise.
Good thing, I guess, that those who own GM stock aren’t being harmed by this, unlike the thousands of American workers who will likely soon be out of work.
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Reposted from AAM
