General Motors said it would officially announce a “multi-million dollar investment” at its Lordstown, Ohio, small-car facility this Thursday, 21 August, as Louisiana’s governor visited Detroit to offer incentives to keep GM’s Shreveport truck/SUV plant open.
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The automaker also said it would also release photos of its next-generation small car, the Chevrolet Cruze, which will make its global debut at the Paris motor show in October.
GM said last month it would add a third shift at Lordstown, which builds fuel-efficient models like the Chevy Cobalt and Pontiac G5, next month.
However, the Lordstown announcement came as US media reported that Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal had travelled to Detroit to tell GM executives his state was willing to help convert the Shreveport assembly plant to keep it operating.
Reports said Jindal, accompanied by his economic development chief and north west Louisiana officials, met with GM North America president Troy Clarke on Friday in Detroit.
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By GlobalDataClarke reportedly told Jindal GM planned no more cuts in Shreveport and still intended to make a new Hummer H3T pick-up truck model there. But earlier-announced plans to cut the plant’s second shift on 29 September, axing about 800 jobs, would still proceed.
The reports said talks about expanding the plant and altering its production to more fuel-efficient vehicles would continue, with the governor offering state-funded incentives to help such a conversion.
Such incentives typically include tax breaks, facility improvement funding and infrastructure funding and state help with staff training.
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