GM suspends production, lays off thousands

General Motors said on Thursday it would suspend production at its North American factories indefinitely, lay off 6,500 salaried employees and cut executive pay, signaling that the automaker believes that coronavirus will take a serious toll on its business.

“We are actively monitoring the situation and the possible impact of the crisis on consumer demand,” a GM spokesman, David

Barnas, said. “When we can safely resume production, we will.”

GM and other automakers shut down their North American plants in the last few days in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus. Most had hoped to restart production next week, but have now scaled back those plans.

Ford Motor aims to restart production at several plants across the United States on April 14, and a plant in Mexico on April 6. Fiat Chrysler said its plants would stay closed until April 14, “dependent upon the various state stay-in-place orders and the readiness of each facility to return to production.” Toyota Motor said its North American plants would remain closed until at least April 17.

The United Automobile Workers union has been pushing GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler to keep their plants closed.

“The only guideline in a boardroom should be management asking themselves, ‘Would I send my family — my son or my daughter — into the plant and be 100% certain they are safe,’ ” Rory Gamble, the union’s president, said in a statement.

To cut costs, GM said it was suspending development work on some new models.

Senior executives will take a pay cut of 5% or 10%, and defer 20% of their salaries to be paid at a later date. The 6,500 salaried employees put on furlough will receive 75% of their normal pay.

Ford has taken similar steps, deferring the salaries for its top 300 executives.