It took a gasoline hike to shake up the auto culture, but the market finally did its work. On Tuesday, General Motors announced the closure of four SUV plants and the possible sale of their Hummer brand, NY Times reported. According to GM, the closures are part of an effort to shift towards car production, to satisfy consumer needs for more fuel efficiency.

“These prices are changing consumer behavior and changing it rapidly,” said company chairman Rick Wagoner to his shareholders. “We don’t believe it’s a spike or a temporary shift. We believe it is, by and large, permanent.”

The closures show just how severely the high gas prices affect the Detroit automakers. Though Ford had not done anything as drastic as putting up an entire brand for sale, they too, have been slashing truck and SUV production because Americans who face $4 per gallon at the pump just aren’t buying.

The GM factories being closed are located in Janesville, Wisconsin; Moraine, Ohio; Oshawa, Ontario; and Toluca, Mexico. Some of the workers will lose their jobs, some will go on to work for other plants and still others have accepted buyouts to leave the company.

In related news, GM is scaling up the production of its electric-powered hybrid, the Chevrolet Volt. Wagoner said that this vehicle will be available towards the end of 2010.

 

Words by Igor Kossov. Photo by Michael McGuire.