After about six decades, General Motors is pulling the plug on one of its long-running Chevy models. A car that once had fans all over the place – yeah, I’m talking about the Chevy Malibu. You might even remember seeing it as a police car back in the day. Well, the best mid-size car from Chevrolet won’t be rolling off the assembly line anymore.
An article on The Drive back in May broke the news. GM’s stopping production of the Malibu, even though sales weren’t too bad. They’re making changes to their plant in Kansas City (the Fairfax Assembly Plant), which is where the Malibu was being built. The whole shift is part of their plan to focus on electric cars, which seems to be the future of the auto industry.
Now, the GM layoffs. It’s not just the cars that are disappearing. Starting November 18th, they’re laying off 686 full-time employees temporarily. Then, there’s another round of cuts in January, with 759 more full-time workers getting laid off. About 250 temp workers are losing their jobs too, according to Automotive News.
GM’s also phasing out the Camaro. Both the Malibu and Camaro are getting the axe as part of a bigger goal. So, in the U.S., Chevy will only be selling trucks, SUVs, and of course, the ever-sexiest Corvette.
In a statement, GM mentioned that they’re putting in a cool $390 million into their Fairfax plant. They’re gearing up to produce the new Bolt EV, which is built on their Ultium platform. This car is supposed to be one of the cheapest all-electric vehicles out there, with a much better driving and charging experience.
After nine generations and selling over 10 million units globally, the Malibu’s production will stop next month. They’ll also pause production of the Cadillac XT4 in early 2025 to get things set up for all these changes. When the plant comes back to life in late 2025, they’ll be making both the Bolt EV and XT4 on the same line. Supposedly, this gives them the ability to adapt based on customer demands.
Affected employees are getting support from the UAW-GM agreement. But it’s still a pretty tough pill to swallow.
