BALTIMORE -- General Motors is closing a Baltimore assembly plant that employs about 1,100 workers.

The factory, which opened in 1935, makes Chevrolet Astro and GMC Safari vans, but will shut down some time next year amid weak sales -- and despite a years-long campaign by state and local officials to forestall the closure, the Detroit News reported Wednesday.

"Long-term market softening and the products' life cycle have driven GM to make this difficult yet necessary decision," Joe Spielman, a GM vice president and general manager of vehicle manufacturing, said.

The company negotiated the plant's closing with the United Auto Workers union as part of a national agreement signed last year. GM also received permission to close a Saginaw foundry by 2007.

Skyrocketing healthcare and retiree benefit costs, along with stagnant sales and market share in North America and Europe, have forced GM to cut costs.

Copyright 2004 by United Press International