A sprawling General Motors assembly plant near Youngstown, Ohio, will be idled March 6 after more than 50 years producing cars and other vehicles, a move that will eliminate nearly 1,700 hourly positions by months’ end.
GM announced in December that Lordstown along with three plants in the United States and one in Canada would close this year.
The Cruze, once a popular and well-reviewed compact car made in Lordstown since 2011, has become the victim of consumer tastes as car buyers in an era of inexpensive gasoline have shown strong preferences for trucks, SUVs and crossover-type vehicles, all of which produce far bigger profits than sedans for GM.
