GM's plant in Lansing, Mich., that builds the Chevrolet Camaro and Cadillac CTS is to reopen Jan. 14, and its full-size SUV plant in Arlington, Texas, is scheduled to restart production Jan. 24, according to a person familiar with the plans.
Ford, Toyota, BMW, Subaru, Volvo, Honda and Mercedes-Benz are planning their usual shutdown schedules, with U.S. plants going off- line after Friday, Dec. 21, and resuming production on Wednesday, Jan. 2. Nissan will follow a similar schedule but with a Jan. 3 restart.
The extra downtime for GM workers at the three-shift Arlington plant, which employs roughly 4,100, is to "conduct training and install equipment in preparation for future product," according to a company statement. GM is expected to redesign the Chevy Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade by 2020.
The extended downtime at Lansing Grand River, according to GM, is to "prepare for a new shift pattern beginning in mid-January." The mid-Michigan plant had been running on two shifts and is expected to drop to one shift, though with the assembly line running faster, while body and paint remain two-shift operations, according to a person familiar with the plans who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.
The Lansing plant, which employs nearly 1,900 workers, stopped making the ATS sedan in June. Production of the Cadillac CTS is expected to end in the near future in anticipation of the CT5 sedan. Sales of the Chevrolet Camaro have had double-digit declines in 2018.
Mike Wayland, Vince Bond Jr., Larry P. Vellequette, Urvaksh Karkaria and Jack Walsworth contributed.
