GM Advances Ohio Plant’s Closing by Year : Could Benefit Laid-Off Workers at Van Nuys

General Motors said Tuesday that it will permanently shut down its assembly plant in Norwood, Ohio, at the end of August, a full year ahead of schedule, because the Chevrolet Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds it makes are not selling well enough.

Although the news is devastating to Norwood, it bodes well for laid-off second shift workers from the Van Nuys plant, the only other factory that makes Camaros and Firebirds.

GM is not promising when it might bring back the 2,190 laid-off Van Nuys workers, who were sent home indefinitely last July. Darwin E. Allen, a GM spokesman in Detroit, said it is “doubtful” that the second shift will be called back before Norwood closes.

Large Inventory

He said that the San Fernando Valley plant will “make preparations for their return, but it really depends on what the market’s doing.”

Thus far, 1987 Camaros and Firebirds have been selling poorly. GM indicated that it has more than a 100-day supply of both models. A 70-day supply is considered normal for this time of year.

Workers in Norwood, a Rust Belt city of 26,000 completely surrounded by Cincinnati, apparently listened to the afternoon announcement at the plant in stunned silence. City officials there said they wondered how they would make ends meet in their operating budget. Norwood is a classic one-company town, and that company is GM.

“We’d been led to believe GM’s approach would be, well, at least somewhat sensitive to the people here,” said Richard Dettmer, Norwood’s community development director. “They just said, ‘Whoops!’ and pulled the carpet out from under us.”

Reprieve for Van Nuys

The nation’s largest auto maker said in November that it would close the Norwood plant by the middle of next year, along with 10 others in the Midwest by 1989. Eventually, the move will put 29,000 people out of work. The Norwood plant employs 4,000.