In a further sign of improving prospects for sales in the US market, General Motors has announced that it is is increasing production at several North America assembly plants.
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GM’s announcement of higher production for the remainder of the year on certain models follows a similar one from Ford.
GM says it will add shifts, overtime and reinstate forecasted down weeks at a number of facilities.
As a result, GM will add about 60,000 vehicles in the third and mainly the fourth quarter production forecast.
To help meet increased demand, GM is adding shifts at CAMI, Ontario, Canada where the next generation Chevy Equinox and all-new GMC Terrain are built and Lordstown, Ohio where the Chevy Cobalt is built.
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By GlobalDataThis, says GM, will bring approximately 1,350 UAW and CAW employees back to the assembly lines. The Chevy HHR and Colorado and the GMC Canyon are also experiencing increased demand, it says.
Based on consumer reaction to the Chevy Camaro, Cadillac SRX and CTS Wagon and the Buick LaCrosse, GM says it anticipates the need for increased production will continue.
“We are running our plants to maintain maximum flexibility and keep production tightly aligned with customer demand,” said Tim Lee, GM group vice president, global manufacturing and labour.
“The uptick is an encouraging sign that vehicle sales are turning around, and we will ramp up quickly to meet that demand.”
GM said that the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program generated substantial demand for a broad range of vehicles within GM, including the Chevy Aveo, Cobalt, HHR, Malibu, Equinox and Colorado. This latest round of production increases ‘will go a long way in rebuilding dealer inventories’ to help GM meet strong consumer demand, the firm said.
“It’s gratifying to see demand for our products accelerate and we are extremely lean with inventories on our launch products like Camaro, Equinox, LaCrosse, SRX, CTS Wagon and Terrain,” said Mark LaNeve, vice president, US sales. “During the third quarter 2009, we’ve added production which will result in 35 percent increase over the second quarter. With today’s announcement of further additions, the fourth quarter will now be at least 20 percent higher than the third quarter, which is a very positive trend.”
See also: US: Ford hikes Q3 and Q4 NA production schedules
