GM cuts hundreds of jobs in Ohio as Chevy Cruze volumes drop

GM\'s Lordstown facility produces only the Chevy compact.

General Motors will reduce its workforce later this year in the face of falling compact sedan sales, the company announced Friday. Plant leaders at General Motors' Lordstown, Ohio facility informed workers that a shift will be eliminated in mid-June.

The cut will effectively eliminate "several hundred" of the plant's almost-3,000-strong workforce, CNBC reports. The plant builds only the Chevrolet Cruze (both the sedan and hatchback variant), leaving little wiggle room for the automaker to avoid cuts.

GM eliminated a shift at Lordstown a year ago after Cruze sales slipped almost 17 percent in 2016. Sales only slipped a little more than 2 percent in 2017, however volumes benefited from the addition of the hatchback to the Cruze lineup.