Communities that depend on the “old guard” auto industry haven’t fared well over the past lustrum or two, and GM added fuel to that fire today.  GM announced today that two plants would close in 2009 – Oshawa, Ontario’s truck plant and Janesville, Wisconsin’s medium duty truck plant.  Their Moraine, Ohio SUV plant will close in 2010.  A Mexico based medium duty truck plant will be shuttered this year. 

For what it’s worth, GM is also considering killing, revamping, or selling the Hummer brand.  In our little mountain town of Bozeman the Hummer is the vehicle of choice for tourists and transplants and more or less an object of derision among Montanans (we’re still rednecks up here for the most part);  the locals drive old pickups and Subarus.

GM and Ford’s truck related struggles don’t portend well for the upper Midwest markets that are home to these companies.  We wouldn’t be at all surprised to see announcements upcoming for new plants focusing on smaller vehicles (such as the Chevy Volt) located in Texas or other southern locales before this is all over. 

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