UAW: GM will make subcompacts in U.S.

Posted on Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 2:28 PM EDT.

General Motors Corp. agreed not to import Chinese-made subcompact cars to the United States as part of its concession deal with the United Auto Workers, union President Ron Gettelfinger told the Associated Press.

Instead, the company will build as many as 160,000 of the cars per year at an existing U.S. factory and sell them in the United States, Gettelfinger said in a telephone interview with the AP. GM had said in documents submitted to Congress that it planned to produce as much as 51,000 subcompacts per year in China and ship them to the United States starting in 2011, the news service said.

A summary of the UAW-GM deal says an innovative labor agreement is needed for the company to produce tiny cars in the United States. But Gettelfinger said that deal is near completion, the AP said. The deal, which freezes wages, cuts bonuses, reduces break time and takes company stock to fund half of a $20 billion trust that will take on retiree health care expenses starting next year, will save GM more than $1 billion per year, the story said.  (Associated Press/Detroit News)

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