Chevrolet Builds Last Cruze In Ohio, Abandons Compact Sedan Segment

BY Michael Gauthier | Posted on

It’s the end of an era as the last US-built Chevrolet Cruze has rolled off the assembly line in Lordstown, Ohio.

While most automakers would typically mark the occasion, GM has been pretty quiet. However, the automaker told Reuters the final Cruze rolled off the assembly line at approximately 3 pm local time. The unnamed spokesperson when on to say the Cruze was “good product and was built with tremendous pride by the Lordstown employees.”

Those same employees are probably the reason GM is staying so tight-lipped as the company is idling Lordstown Assembly and this will result in the elimination of 1,435 hourly and 183 salaried jobs. Approximately 372 employees have already agreed to transfer to other GM facilities, but that still leaves more than 1,000 people out of work.

The closure hasn’t gone over well with workers, politicians or the UAW and latter is suing GM for violating their collective bargaining agreement. According to the lawsuit, the agreement prohibits GM from closing or idling plants until September 15th, 2019.

The lawsuit seeks to keep Lordstown Assembly open until that date and wants GM to pay back wages and benefits to employees affected by the closure. The case is still winding its way through the courts, but it might not be a slam dunk for the UAW.  Under the terms of the agreement, closures are allowed for conditions that are beyond GM’s control.  It even gives specific examples of an act of God or a “market related volume decline.”

GM will probably argue the latter has occurred as Cruze sales in the United States have dropped from 273,060 units in 2014 to just 142,617 units last year. That’s a huge decline and GM likely needs to hit a certain volume in order for the Cruze to be profitable.

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