Union & goobermint market interference:
Many GM workers in Lordstown make about $60,000 a year, the UAW says.
"If you could get a job at GM, it was like winning the lottery," says Lexso..
Add in insurance and pension benefits and the actual cost/employee is likely closer to $100,000/yr.
Tho perhaps irrelevant if the Cruz market has made production unprofitable regardless:
Better to HAVE a job @ $18/hr installing brake lines, or NOT HAVE one at all when the plant closes due to inflated labor costs, et al ?
I'm guessing that the above is much closer to the economic truth than cnn's typical non-exploration of underlying realities.
That's not to say that floor labor costs are the only factor.
Tho complete guesswork on my part, I'd wager that, given GM's tax bailout, management is still both top heavy and myopic.
Add into the equation that the average car on American roads is currently ~10yrs old, this was likely only a matter of time.
Perhaps if we could get the corn and the f'ing goobermint out of our gas, folks might save enough on fuel/maintenance costs to manage a trade-in a little sooner, solving many problems . . .
/.02