The nation’s largest automaker cited weak sales, according to CBS Detroit. The move will idle about 1,500 employees who work on four models, including the Buick LaCrosse, the Cadillac CT-6, the Chevrolet Volt and the Chevrolet Impala.
This latest move comes after GM eliminated a full shift earlier this year, also eliminating 1,300 jobs. Michelle Krebs, with Autotrader Analyst, says this is another indication of consumers shifting toward sport-utilities and away from passenger cars.
“What we are seeing is a decline in sales of those vehicles and automakers, instead of continuing to pour rich incentives on them, are cutting back production to lower their inventories,” said Krebs.
While the temporary layoff affects almost 1,500 workers, when operations resume, 200 employees will be out of a job. Sales of the Buick LaCrosse were are down 21.5 percent year to date, and the Chevrolet Impala is down 31.8 percent, reports Reuters.
GM and Ford Motors have struggled this year to reduce inventories of passenger cars. “This is consistent with our view that domestic (manufacturers) continue to face steep competition in the passenger car segment and production must be aligned with waning sales in order to reduce the elevated amounts of inventory,” Buckingham Research Group analyst Joseph Amaturo wrote in a note to a client.
Reuters also notes that GM plans to cut the third shift at its plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, as of late November this year. A GM spokesman says there are no plans to reinstate any of the eliminated shifts at this time. The spokesman also says that while 6,000 jobs were eliminated, 2,300 temporary workers and 800 of its hourly, union-represented workers have been laid off, for a total of 3,100 job cuts so far.
