GM quits medium-duty truck business

General Motors Corp. said Monday that it's getting out of the medium-duty truck business.

More than 22,000 GMC Topkick and Chevrolet Kodiak vehicles — used as tow and dump trucks and in other applications — were produced last year for GM and Isuzu Motors Ltd. Production will end in July.

The company will work with dealers to sell vehicles still in inventory over the next 18 months, GM spokesman Jim Hopson said.

The trucks are assembled by 398 workers at a plant in Flint, Mich., which also makes Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, Hopson said. GM will keep as many of the 398 employed as possible.

The DMAX plant in Moraine, Ohio, a joint venture between GM and Isuzu, makes engines for the medium-duty trucks and other vehicles. The jobs of the 544 workers there are under review, GM said.

Hopson said sales of medium-duty trucks dropped 30 to 40 per cent in 2008 from 2007, and have fallen a similar percentage this year.

GM has been trying to find a buyer for the medium-duty truck business for four years, but couldn't close a deal.

With files from The Associated Press