DETROIT — General Motors agreed not to import Chinese-made subcompact cars to the U.S. as part of a deal with the United Auto Workers, union president Ron Gettelfinger said Thursday.
Instead, the company will build up to 160,000 of the cars each year at an existing U.S. factory and sell them in the U.S., Gettelfinger said.
GM had said in documents submitted to Congress that it planned to produce up to 51,000 subcompacts a year in China and ship them to the U.S. starting in 2011.
A summary of the UAW-GM deal says an innovative labor agreement is needed for the company to produce tiny cars in the U.S. Gettelfinger said that deal is near completion. “There may have to be a few minor tweaks,” he said. “The agreement that’s in place here is competitive.”
The deal, which freezes wages, cuts bonuses, reduces break time and uses company stock to fund half of a $20 billion trust that will fund retiree health-care expenses next year, will save GM more than $1 billion a year.
