GM To Shut Down Engine Line At Livonia, Mich. Plant.(General Motors)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

General Motors Corp. said it will stop making the 3.5-liter V6 engine used to power the Oldsmobile Intrigue and base-model Aurora by late spring, eliminating up to 40 percent of the jobs at its Livonia Powertrain assembly plant. The move is part of GM's plan to eliminate the Oldsmobile brand at the end of the 2004 model year.

There has been no official announcement about the timing of the shutdown at Livonia, nor about the fate of 526 hourly and about 100 salaried workers. But it is unlikely that any new work will be assigned to the plant, a spokesman for GM Powertrain, said.

"The loss of our 3.5-liter V6 will have some impact on the workforce," the spokesman said. "The exact amount is unknown at this time." Workers say the plant manager told them that the demise of the V6 engine could mean as many as 200 blue-collar jobs will be lost by spring. "We're looking at 35 to 40 percent (of the workforce) being cut around April or May," said UAW Local 22 representative Jim Phelps. "That's what we're being told."

The number of white-collar jobs at stake is less certain. Employees say more than a dozen white-collar workers already have been reassigned to facilities in places such as Ohio, Louisiana, and New York.

The GM Powertrain facility, which started making the Oldsmobile engine for the 1999 model year, opened for business in 1971. Last year, the plant produced 173,340 Northstar V8 engines and 88,519 twin cam, 215-horsepower V6 engines.

Production of the Intrigue and V6-powered Aurora is scheduled to end in June, and those are the only cars that use the 3.5-liter engine Livonia builds. Company officials said the plant will continue to build the V8 Northstar engine used in cars such as the Cadillac Seville.

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