GM Texas plant will add overtime to make more SUVs

Chrissie Thompson
Automotive News — January 22, 2010 – 12:59 pm ET

GM's inventory of SUVs such as the Chevy Tahoe was below 30 days' supply as of Jan. 1.

DETROIT — General Motors Co., continuing to fight vehicle shortages at dealerships, will add overtime production to its SUV plant in Arlington, Texas, starting next week.

The plant makes standard and hybrid versions of the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon. As of Jan. 1, all versions of those SUVs had less than a 34-day supply, according to the Automotive News Data Center. Analysts recommend a 60-day supply, and the overall industry started 2010 with a 53-day supply.

GM told Arlington employees Wednesday that it would add two 10-hour shifts of overtime each Friday starting a week from today, GM spokesman Chris Lee said. The overtime will continue through April, he said.

The plant has been running four days a week with two 10-hour shifts each day, to save money by not operating on Fridays.

In addition, the factory will run on two Saturdays in March and two in April.

The Arlington overtime is the latest GM move to replenish dwindling supplies as annual sales rates pick up from their 9.5 million-unit level in September, two months after GM exited bankruptcy. The sales rate reached 11.9 million units in December.

The Tahoe has seen three straight months of year-over-year sales increases, ranging from 45 percent in December to 111 percent in October. Sales of the Yukon and Escalade also rose in October but fell in November and December.

Pleas from dealers

Less said that as part of a normal production review this week, GM officials decided to ramp up the Arlington plant in response to demand.

“Dealers are requesting more full-sized SUVS,” he said.

As of Jan. 1, inventories of the SUVs ranged from a 15-day supply of the extralong Escalade ESV to a 33-day supply of the Yukon.

GM also has two plants operating with third shifts to meet growing demand — the Kansas City, Kan., factory that makes the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick LaCrosse sedans and the Ingersoll, Ontario, plant that builds the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain small crossovers.

GM also is looking at ways to get more Equinox and Terrain production — increasing output at the current plant in the near term and possibly opening a shuttered plant in the long term, officials said last week. In addition to its extra weekday shift, the Ingersoll plant is also running about three Saturdays a month, with the normal three shifts on those days.

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