General Motors will suspend much of its North American production in January as it cuts 250,000 vehicles from its first-quarter output.

The company's car plants in Oshawa, Ont., will close for January, plus the first week of February.

Stew Low, a GM Canada spokesman, said the company's Oshawa truck plant will be down beginning the first week of January and not go back into production until the middle of March.

A total of 20 GM plants across the continent will be shut down for all or part of January. A GM spokesperson said normal production for the quarter would be about 750,000 cars and trucks.

Jim Stanford, an economist with the CAW, said October and November auto sales were weak, with no indication that December will be any better.

"With auto sales collapsing like that, you know you're going to have significant downtime at your plants. That's not unexpected," he said.

"The bigger problem for us is to ensure that temporary collapse in auto sales … does not take the industry itself down," he added.

The announcement comes following the failure of the U.S. Senate to pass a $14-billion US bailout package for the Detroit Big Three automakers.

However, the White House has said it could tap into its $700-billion bailout fund for banks to support the auto sectors.

The Big Three automakers have been seeking $6.8 billion in loans and credit lines from Ottawa and Ontario.

Ken Lewenza, the president of the CAW, called on governments in Canada to go ahead with a support package for the Canadian auto industry, conditional on a U.S. bailout getting done.

"Don't sit back," he encouraged governments. "That could help break the logjam in the United States."

"We think if Canada was to move, and move swiftly, that would put pressure on the United States to respond more appropriately than as of last night."

With files from the Canadian Press