General Motors will end vehicle production at its Janesville plant by the end of this year and close the facility entirely in January, a spokesman for Sen. Herb Kohl said late Friday.

Joseph Trahern, GM's director of legislative and regulatory affairs, informed Kohl's office of the closure date Friday, said Rohit Mahajan, a Kohl spokesman.

Mahajan said Trahern told the office the Janesville employees would be notified Friday.

Both a GM spokesman and an official of United Auto Workers Local 95 in Janesville deny that the company has made any further statement about the Janesville factory's future, and Gov. Jim Doyle said Friday the possibility of a new product for the plant is still alive.

"We have nothing to announce at this point in time," said GM's Chris Lee. "When we have something to announce, we'll tell our employees first."

UAW vice president Steve Kerl said there was no meeting with employees on Friday.

Production at the Janesville plant runs Mondays through Thursdays, assembling Chevrolet Suburbans and Tahoes and GMC Yukons. Kerl said, though, rumors are circulating that the factory's remaining 1,200 workers may get word on Monday that the plant will cease production by the end of the year.

"Nobody has officially told us that we're getting it on Monday," Kerl said. "(But) that's the fear everybody has."

Employees of the Moraine, Ohio plant, which also makes sport-utility vehicles, got word a week ago that their factory will close Dec. 23.

Janesville employees were told earlier this week that the GM plant there will run through the third week of November, with the last week of November off, as usual, for Thanksgiving and deer hunting.

Until then, no specifics had been announced after the week of Nov. 3. Gov. Doyle, meanwhile, said GM officials have not ruled out an incentive package presented last month by union, business, community and government leaders to lure a new product to the Janesville factory.

"We worked together and delivered a package that General Motors is still seriously considering," Doyle said, in a statement Friday evening.

"We are still hopeful that in the midst of the current financial crisis, we can convince General Motors that Janesville is ideally suited for a new product line," the governor said. "I have received assurances from General Motors that any announcement is not a response to the incentive package we delivered to them last month and that they will continue to consider our package."

The news prompted Kohl to issue this statement late Friday: "This is a dark day for Janesville and a dark time for America as the economy struggles. General Motors' plant has been a central part of the community for generations, and its closing will have devastating consequences. My office and I stand ready to help GM workers get the assistance and help they need to rebuild their lives."

Mahajan said the senator issued the statement because his office believed the closure date was public knowledge. But Mahajan acknowledged the senator's office may have misunderstood when a public announcement would be made.

Mahajan said Trahern "pointed to the economic news" in explaining the decision.

Earlier this year, GM announced that the Janesville plant, which makes SUVs and pickup trucks, would close by 2010 or earlier.

Mahajan said Friday's announcement puts a more definite date on the closure. William Truman, vice president of the Janesville City Council, said Friday evening he had heard nothing definite about an early closure either through city government channels or through his contacts at the GM plant. Truman works for LSI, which sequences and delivers parts to the plant, and serves as a union representative for LSI workers.

"It's just a lot of rumors," Truman said. "The rumors are flying every day, but I have heard nothing official."

If the plant were to close early, it would come as a blow to Janesville and to his own livelihood, Truman noted. Some workers already have been laid off at LSI as a result of production cuts at the plant.

"It would affect me personally," he said. "It would be very hard to swallow."

Echoing the governor, Janesville Council President Amy Loasching said residents should not give up hope that GM might still accept an offer from state and local officials to keep the plant running.

"The city has been a partner with the governor in that effort, and I believe General Motors is sincere in looking at that offer," she said. "It's still a possibility in the future. We can't give up hope."

Loasching also said she has heard the "same rumors" that everyone else has about an early closure for the plant, but she noted the city had not received an official "warn notice" from the company, which would signify that something was really happening.

"It could be different next week," she said, "but at this point, there's really nothing to report."