(August 18, 2009) General Motors is increasing production at several North American assembly plants in response to increased sales. The company will add shifts, overtime and reinstate forecasted down weeks at select facilities. As a result, GM will add about 60,000 vehicles in the third and mainly the fourth quarter production forecast, ensuring a wide selection of high-quality, fuel efficient cars, crossovers and trucks for customers.

To help meet the increased demand, GM is adding shifts at CAMI, Ontario, Canada, where the next generation Chevy Equinox and all-new GMC Terrain are built and Lordstown, Ohio, where we build the fuel-efficient Chevy Cobalt. This will bring approximately 1,350 UAW and CAW employees back to the assembly lines. The Chevy HHR and Colorado and the GMC Canyon are also experiencing increased demand. Based on consumer reaction to the Chevy Camaro, Cadillac SRX and CTS Wagon and the Buick LaCrosse, GM anticipates the need to increase production at several plants will continue.

“We are running our plants to maintain maximum flexibility and keep production tightly aligned with customer demand,” said Tim Lee, GM group vice president, global manufacturing and labor. “The uptick is an encouraging sign that vehicle sales are turning around, and we will ramp up quickly to meet that demand.”

In July and August, the popular Cash for Clunkers program generated substantial demand for a broad range of fuel efficient vehicles within GM, including the Chevy Aveo, Cobalt, HHR, Malibu, Equinox and Colorado.

“It’s gratifying to see demand for our products accelerate and we are extremely lean with inventories on our launch products like Camaro, Equinox, LaCrosse, SRX, CTS Wagon and Terrain,” said Mark LaNeve, vice president, U.S. sales.  “During the third quarter 2009, we’ve added production which will result in 35 percent increase over the second quarter.  With today’s announcement of further additions, the fourth quarter will now be at least 20 percent higher than the third quarter, which is a very positive trend.”