As part of the phase-out of its Pontiac brand, General Motors Corp. announced today it will stop building the compact Vibe crossover wagon in August. The Pontiac Vibe is assembled at a plant jointly owned by GM and Toyota Motor Corp. in Fremont, Calif.
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Chrysler LLC, responding to a severe sales slump, tight credit and urgent need to preserve cash, will idle all of its North American manufacturing operations for at least 30 days beginning this Friday. And Ford Motor Co. has a planned shutdown affecting nine of its North American assembly plants for an extra week in January due to the slumping U.S. auto market, under previously announced plans to trim first quarter output. A tenth Ford facility, Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, is down for retooling.

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