GM to slash production

DETROIT, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- General Motors Corp. said it would cut production at most U.S. assembly plants by 30 percent for the first quarter of 2009.

The company said 20 plants would be affected in the United States, Canada and Mexico as it scaled down production by 250,000 vehicles in the quarter, The Detroit News reported.

GM workers in Kansas City, Mo., and Spring Hill, Tenn., said they were told their plants would close from the holidays through Feb. 9, the Detroit Free Press reported Friday.

The company also told 300 workers in Mansfield, Ohio, they would be laid off in a week. Work there would close for two weeks in January, the newspaper said.

GM has said it would run out of operating cash early next year and lobbied hard for a federal bailout package, which evaporated in the U.S. Senate Thursday.

Deeper cuts were expected, the newspaper said.

The News said GM has lost $73 billion since 2004 and is now struggling with a 2008 sales decline of 22 percent.