GM Powertrain?s Baltimore transmission plant in White Marsh makes some components for large trucks and sport utility vehicles. Good thing it also makes transmissions for hybrids.
GM announced Tuesday that it would close four SUV and pickup truck plants, citing a “permanent” change in customer demand, and favor production of smaller, more fuel-efficient cars.
But none of the four plants slated for closure is a customer of the White Marsh facility, according to plant spokesman John Raut. And he said the hybrid transmissions it produces provide the plant with some job protection.
“If you check with any dealership right now, people are not buying trucks or SUVs,” Raut said. “Right now our mix is about 50-50, trucks and cars, that?s going to go to 60-40 in favor of cars. You?re in a good position when you have the [hybrid] product that was just launched this year.”
The White Marsh plant builds GM?s Hybrid 2MODE transmission, used in the Chevrolet Tahoe SUV and, later this summer, the GMC Yukon.
It also builds the Allison A1000 six-speed automatic transmission, used in the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty trucks.
GM also announced the creation of a next-generation compact fuel-efficient car and support for other high-efficiency brands, as wellas a “strategic review” for the Hummer brand, which could include sale of that property.
But GM?s plans announced Tuesday likely have been in the works for some time, said Peter Morici, an auto industry expert and economics professor at the University of Maryland.
“GM is facing a time of severe difficulty, and the folks at White Marsh should feel fortunate to not be directly affected,” Morici said.
News of the four plants? closure comes about a month after the company said it would cut shifts at four other plants. Two of those, in Pontiac and Flint, Mich., are customers of the White Marsh plant, but Raut said it?s still not clear what effect the cuts there would have on jobs here.
The plants in Michigan and in White Marsh are all coming back online after a three-month-long strike by the United Auto Workers union shut down one of White Marsh?s key suppliers, American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. The company and the union reached a settlement two weeks ago, and workers returned last week.
Approximately 25 White Marsh workers returned to work Monday, Raut said, as well as workers at the two plants in Michigan.
He added it could be mid-July before the majority of local workers return.
When they do, they face uncertain prospects with the cuts in Michigan, customers? shift away from gas-guzzlers and a generally difficult economy.
“To say [White Marsh workers] aren?t concerned, I don?t think that would be true,” Raut said. “I think everybody, in this economy, is.”
