GM Mexico cuts 300 jobs, sees no more shutdowns

MEXICO CITY, July 10 (Reuters) - General Motors Mexico will slash 300 more jobs as it reels from a sharp decline in U.S. and Mexican demand, but the U.S. automaker's local head said the company did not expect further plant shutdowns.

GM Mexico Managing Director Grace Lieblein said on Friday the job cuts, part of the restructuring process as General Motors emerges from bankruptcy protection in the United States, would hit non-union workers.

But Lieblein said the restructured GM GMGMQ.PK did not plan to permanently close any of its plants in Mexico.

GM Mexico has been periodically shuttering its three major plants to pare inventories amid a steep drop in its exports. GM's local production fell 42 percent during the first four months of the year.

"We do not have plans for any more shutdowns," Lieblein said.

GM Mexico has already fired around 1,200 union and non-union employees since last year, said spokesman Mauricio Kuri.

Demand in the United States for GM's pick-up trucks and sport utility vehicles began to slump last year and collapsed in early 2009.

A current shutdown of the firm's San Luis Potosi plant, originally programmed to last nearly two months, will be cut back by two weeks and operations will resume on August 10, Kuri said.

Mexico's auto industry has been hammered by the drop in U.S. demand, with exports and production falling around 40 percent in May.

In the United States, a new General Motors GMGMQ.PK emerged from bankruptcy protection on Friday after a whirlwind 40-days of negotiations that concluded with a deal that sold key operations to a new company that is majority-owned by the U.S. Treasury. [nN10500543] (Reporting by Michael O'Boyle, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)