GM to close Michigan stamping plant by end-2009

DETROIT, Oct 13 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) will close a stamping plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, by the end of 2009 in response to slumping sales of trucks and SUVs, the automaker said on Monday.

The planned closure affects 1,340 hourly workers represented by the United Auto Workers and 180 salaried workers at the plant, GM spokesman Tony Sapienza said.

About 40 percent of output from the stamping plant supplies full-size trucks and SUVs, whose sales have tumbled this year in the wake of record gasoline prices.

(Reporting by Soyoung Kim, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)