DETROIT (AP) – General Motors Corp said Wednesday that it will scale back production next month at three plants that build Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon sport utility vehicles.
The world’s largest automaker is slowing output at factories in Arlington, Texas; Janesville, Wis.; and Silao, Mexico, to bring inventories in line with demand, GM spokesman Tom Wickham said.
The plants will cease production for the first two weeks of January, then reopen Jan. 15 with assembly–line speed reduced by 10 percent to 50 vehicles an hour.
Wickham said he did not know how long production at that rate would continue, or how many workers could be laid off. The Janesville and Arlington facilities employ more than 3,000 and 2,700 hourly workers, respectively.
GM said last week that it expects to build 1.28 million vehicles in the first quarter of 2007, down 9.2 percent from actual production in the first quarter of 2006.