DETROIT — General Motors said Monday it will cut 2,000 jobs at two plants and halt production for several weeks at nine other U.S. factories as the company takes steps to stop making a plethora of cars that people aren't buying.

With the country mired in a recession and some consumers having trouble getting loans, 1,200 workers will be laid off at GM's Delta Township, Mich., plant and another 800 will lose their jobs in Lordstown, Ohio. The company is eliminating entire shifts at those plants to bring production in line with the industry's worst sales slump in 26 years.

Unlike earlier cuts that often singled out truck and SUV plants, these slice systemwide as consumers shun even the small cars that were hot sellers when gas prices hit $4 last summer.