GM to Eliminate Shift at Tennessee SUV Plant, Lay Off Hundreds of Workers
September 22 2017 - 7:36PM
Dow Jones News
By Mike Colias
General Motors Co. will lay of several hundred workers at a
sport-utility plant in Tennessee, a sign that the slowdown in the
broader car market is spreading to once-hot SUVs.
GM notified employees at its Spring Hill, Tenn., assembly plant
Friday that the company will lay off the overnight shift because of
"moderating" sales of the two crossover SUV models built there.
About 1,000 people work on that shift, though some might be able to
transfer to other parts of the operation, which also makes engines
and other components, a GM spokesman said.
"Although crossovers now make up a larger share of the
automotive industry, overall volumes are moderating," GM said in
its notice. "We believe the best way to react...is to reduce
output."
The factory makes the GMC Acadia and Cadillac XT5 crossover
SUVs. Both vehicles are part of a slew of new or overhauled SUVs
that GM is counting on to drive U.S. sales and profit growth as
demand for passenger cars continues to wane.
U.S. vehicle sales have cooled this year after a seven-year
growth spurt and two straight years of record volumes. Healthy
pickup-truck and SUV demand has helped offset a sharp decline in
sales of passenger cars, though signs of a slowdown in those
more-profitable segments have surfaced in recent months.
Write to Mike Colias at Mike.Colias@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 22, 2017 19:21 ET (23:21 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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