General Motors of Canada, once the mightiest industrial enterprise in the country, will become a tiny shadow of itself within a few years by slashing jobs, shuttering dealerships and eliminating the iconic Pontiac brand.

In an aggressive update of a "viability plan," GM disclosed yesterday that the company will chop an already-diminished workforce by 6,000 jobs, or almost 60 per cent within five years; slash its dealer network by about 300 retailers, or 42 per cent; and eliminate the 83-year-old Pontiac.

Industry officials said in addition to the 6,000 direct job losses, another 14,000 eventually will disappear at dealerships and a further 18,000 will be out of work in the parts sector.

The shrinking auto giant said it is moving "faster and deeper" on restructuring plans so it can qualify for short-term government bridge loans here. The federal and Ontario governments rejected an earlier survival plan from GM, which is seeking between $6 billion and $7 billion in aid.

In Ottawa, Industry Minister Tony Clement described the job cuts as "terrible and unfortunate but necessary to secure public aid and keep the company viable.

GM said in a statement the latest plan "will speed the reinvention of the company's operations into a more customer-focused, leaner and more cost-competitive auto maker."

It also confirmed the phase-out of the Pontiac brand – which created models like the Bonneville and the GTO, the first performance car – to concentrate on four core names: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. Pontiac holds about 4 per cent of the market.

The company said in the update that it will employ only about 4,400 production workers in 2014, down from 10,300 last year.

That's far below the go-go years of the late 1980s when GM had a production workforce of almost 40,000 at three assembly plants in Oshawa, two more in suburban Scarborough and Ste.-Thérèse, Que., and sprawling parts operations in St. Catharines and Windsor.

The Scarborough and Ste.-Thérèse operations closed long ago; a truck plant in Oshawa shuts down permanently next month and the transmission factory will end output next year.





With files from Les Whittington