General Motors announced it will lay off the third shift at its Spring Hill, Tennessee assembly plant in November due to curbed new-vehicle demand in the United States.
The third shift employs about 1,000 workers, but not all will be laid off, according to The Detroit Free Press. GM is still working out the final details as to how many workers will stay on the job after November 27. GM said the layoffs are indefinite as well.
The GM Spring Hill plant builds the Cadillac XT5 and the second-generation GMC Acadia. Per the report, the automaker currently has a 105-day supply of the Acadia and a 68-day supply of the XT5. GM has been working to improve its overall inventory situation this year, which has climbed past the 60-day supply mark considered to be the healthy benchmark industry-wide. In August, GM’s inventory levels were at 88 days, which was down from a 104-day supply in July.
Despite a hot crossover market, GM said overall demand is beginning to slow, and sales of new cars in the U.S. were down 2.7 percent in the month of August. GM’s
Even though crossovers make up a larger share of the industry now, overall volumes are moderating,” GM spokesperson Tom Wickham, said.
In the near future, the Spring Hill plant will receive a new product, with GM having confirmed a $294 million investment into the facility to build a new Cadillac crossover. This will likely be the upcoming Cadillac XT6 three-row CUV based on the extended-length C1 platform (a shorter variant of the architecture underpins the XT5 and Acadia. The compact Cadillac XT4 will likely be assembled at the GM Fairfax plant in Kansas.
Comments
The whole market is starting to slow after years of selling at record rates .
However Spring Hill building two new products in the hot SUV market and inventory levels as high as 105 days for the Acadia doesn’t look good . Is the problem of just over building it or has the market soured for the Acadia because there is no third row seating , and the price is about the same for a smaller car .
Even though the XT5 is just slightly over what is the average for inventory levels at 68 days supply , this also looks a bit more troubling . GM may see that sales for the XT5 are going to be softer than anticipated . Stick a pin in this .
But the silver lining for Spring Hill will be the addition of the XT4 . Having 3 shifts running doesn’t give the plant time to make the changes that will be needed for the new car . That is why the lay-offs are indefinite , this will be a paid vaca for these folks after working so much , and the news of a new car coming surely helps .
GM may have learned a lesson that they need to keep an better eye on the market before they have a huge inventory problem .
Why not move equinox production there? Thats why all of their plants need to be flex plants.
I wish GM would pick a plant and designate it as the Cadillac plant, producing only Caddys and doing so with a higher level of craftsmanship, quality, and personalization.
Years ago, Cadillacs came from their own dedicated plant on Clark Avenue in Detroit. They didn’t get built amongst Chevys. I think Cadillac’s cachet could be enhanced with an exclusive plant much like Bowling Green is to the Corvette.
1000% agree! I hold the same feelings about Cadillacs being sold in Chevy dealerships and sharing notable parts! In and of itself, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s much more feasible financially, plus GM is a much improved company with a renewed and solid focus on quality. But It’s just fundamentally wrong, and does nothing for the brand by way of improving its image! I don’t like the idea of buying a $90K Cadillac with a $16K Spark on the other side of the showroom floor!
No surprises that Acadia isn’t selling well… I went to local GM dealership a couple of months ago, did a test drive for Acadia (and some pickup trucks) – it’s not a bad SUV, I really liked its overall interior/exterior design and the ride quality was also good for local pothole-ridden streets, BUT once you finish the test drive and sit down with your sales person – that’s where everything breaks down. The price they want to charge for it (regardless if it’s the lease or finance) is ridiculously high, even considering all the rebates, especially once you start adding a few options to SLE trims/models. And that’s not only a single dealer – I also sent quote requests to other local dealers. Can definitely find cheaper SUVs of similar size, with MUCH more options included (as well as better fuel efficiency), from other manufacturers (which is what I eventually did). GM NEEDS to drop the prices further if they want to actually sell these as much as competitor’s models instead of piling them up on dealer’s lots.
Acadia isn’t selling well? It’s on pace to record year. GMC has sold 75K thru August. It had record month in March when they sold over 11K units.
I understand your dealer experience, but it’s not stoping other customers from buying one. There are bad and better dealers out there.