The
Washington
Post is reporting that, "3,500 GM workers at three plants in the
United States and one in Canada. Michigan will be hit particularly
hard, with 1,900 job losses in Flint and Pontiac. The other layoffs
will be at factories in Janesville, Wis., and Oshowa, Ontario."
GM announced
today that it is eliminating one shift of production at its full-size
pickup truck assembly plants in Pontiac, Mich.; Flint, Mich.; and Oshawa,
Ontario; and its full-size SUV assembly plant in Janesville, Wis. The
decisions were made to bring production capacity more in line with
market demand.
Under this
plan, approximately 88,000 units of full-size pickup and 50,000 units
of full-size SUV production will be removed from GM’s
North American production capacity for the remainder of the 2008 calendar
year.
Based on
current plans, the shift reductions will be effective on the following
dates:
Flint Assembly (Heavy Duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra) – July 14
Janesville(Chevrolet
Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon, Yukon XL) – July 14
Pontiac Assembly (Chevrolet
Silverado, GMC Sierra) – July 14
Oshawa Truck(Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra) – September 8
The full-size
pickup truck and full-size SUV segments have softened for the entire
industry – down 15 and 26 percent, respectively,
through the first quarter of 2008. Nonetheless, GM remains the segment
leader in both instances, with nearly 40 percent share of full-size trucks
and more than 63 percent share in the full-size SUV market.
“With rising fuel prices, a softening economy, and a downward
trend on current and future market demand for full-size trucks, a significant
adjustment was needed to align our production with market realities,” said
Troy Clarke, president GM North America. “This is a difficult move,
but we remain committed to retaining and growing our leadership position
in the full-size truck market.”
Clarke noted
that with the market shifting toward cars and crossovers, GM is seeing
strong sales of the new Chevrolet Malibu, Cadillac CTS, Chevrolet Cobalt,
Pontiac G6, Chevrolet Impala, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia. He added
that the company is continuing to explore options to increase car and
crossover production, but there are no changes to car production at
this time.
The full-size
truck production cuts will result in lower staffing requirements at
all four plants, and those details will be worked out over the next
several weeks with the UAW and CAW.
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