GM, Ford idle Russian plants

Posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 2:35 PM EDT.

U.S. car giants General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. suspended operations on their production lines in Russia on Wednesday as the deepening economic crisis squeezes Russian consumers’ demand for new cars, the Associated Press reported.

GM said its new plant outside St. Petersburg would halt manufacturing until Aug. 31, the AP said.

“Having carefully studied the state of the Russian car market and the extent of reduction in the demand from the creditworthy population, we have decided not to force a production increase at our Russian plant this year,” Chris Gubbey, GM Russia’s president, said in a statement.

The company said no major layoffs would occur among the plant’s 1,000 employees, though it was unclear whether that might signal smaller-scale cutbacks or unpaid furloughs, the news service said. Meanwhile, Ford shut down its St. Petersburg area factory until July 13, spokeswoman Yekaterina Kulinenko told the news service. (Associated Press/Detroit News)

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