LORDSTOWN - Car production at the General Motors Corp. Lordstown Complex will be on hold until Nov. 17 so workers can continue preparing the factory to launch the all-new Chevrolet Cruze small car, officials said Monday.

Meanwhile, the complex's current product, the Chevrolet Cobalt, was singled out for the lowest levels of interior toxic chemicals, according to the Ecology Center. It was the first time a vehicle made by a Detroit automaker in America topped the list since the center started it in 2007.

Activity at Lordstown includes ''some conveyor line work to get ready for the new Cruze,'' Lordstown spokesman Tom Mock said of the planned shutdown. ''We also have team leaders in for continued training.''

About 2,000 of the factories' two-shift hourly work force of 3,200 began a scheduled layoff Monday that will include next Monday, which is the workers' Veterans Day holiday, according to union leaders.

Some 1,500 of 2,400 hourly workers in the Lordstown East assembly plant also are off the job, said Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112. He said some employees in material handling, skilled trades workers and ''a lot'' of coordinators are still working.

The furlough follows one the last week in September for the same reason, said Dave Green, president of Local 1714 of the Lordstown West Metal Center, where about 500 of the 800 active workers are idled.

GM and the UAW have said they're working for a smooth launch of the upscale Cruze around mid-summer.

Until then, car buyers can drive off in a new Cobalt without worrying about adverse health effects from that ''new car smell,'' according to the Ecology Center.

The group's findings, released in September, indicate new-Cobalt buyers have the best chance of avoiding chemical odors from antimony, bromine, chlorine and lead that could make them sick.

The Cobalt's rating was 0.7 on the scale of 5.0 for the worst vehicle and 0.0 for one with no detectable levels of chemicals. The rating was the fourth best in the center's short study period.

''This is another example of why the Cobalt is one of the best, if not the best, value on the road. It's a well-built, great car,'' Mock said.

The center noted that Americans spend nearly two hours a day in a vehicle, exposing them to chemicals' effects that can be worsened by ultraviolet rays on sunny days. The presence of such chemicals can be seen as a film that can condense on the inside of the windshields, caused by evaporation of chemicals in plastics and cloth, the center said.

The Chevrolet Aveo, which is made in South Korea, has the worst rating at 4.9, the center said.

lringler@tribtoday.com