OREANDA-NEWS. On 1 July General Motors plant in St. Petersburg stopped production completely and will be mothballed, GM Auto representative told to RIA Novosti agency.  On 18 March, GM announced withdrawal of Opel from the Russian market and intension to mothball the plant in St. Petersburg by mid-2015.

The trade union organization at the GM plant in St. Petersburg claimed compensation of 18 wages. The trade union also claimed the right of priority employment in case of resumption of the plant operation and believes that the workers should be re-training at the expense of the enterprise.

GM launched the plant in St. Petersburg in November 2008. The company produced the Chevrolet Cruze, the Trail Blazer, the Opel Astra and some Cadillac models. The Chevrolet Tahoe was planned to be productionized in 2015. In 2014 the plant had downtimes and was switched to single-shift operation.