It’s good news for workers at General Motors’ Spring Hill, Tennessee, plant. The automaker plans to reinstate the plant’s third shift, which will call 700 workers back to the job.
Tennessean reported the news on Thursday, which added the third shift’s revival comes as demand increases for the 2018 Cadillac XT5 and 2018 GMC Acadia.
Last year, GM announced it would cut the shift after “moderating sales” for the two crossovers. The shift actually employs 1,000 workers, though 300 remained on the job. GM called the shift cut “indefinite” last September.
However, even as the automaker cut the third shift, good news sprung in the announcement that GM selected the plant to build a future Cadillac crossover. It’s likely that Spring Hill will soon be home to the larger Cadillac XT6 crossover. The plant builds two GM crossovers riding on the automaker’s C1 platform, the XT6 will likely ride on the extended version of the same architecture—much like the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave.
In total, the Spring Hill facility employs around 3,000 workers and the third shift will come back online this September.
Comments
I had talked to someone at GM connected to this platform and they said sales have been up and down over the last year and a half. Sales will be strong for 4 months and off for two. They have been trying to control inventory.
I also expect they would gear up for the new short wheelbase Chevy C1XX model for TN as it is the same size platform as the other two models. The Cadillac XT6 looks similar to the Acadia too.
I think this means GM is planning on making the 2019 Blazer at Spring Hill which makes sense since it uses the C1 Platform where its cousins, the XT5 and Acadia are built.