(May 9, 2024) General Motors plans to end production of the Chevrolet Malibu — the company's last remaining sedan — in November so it can use the Fairfax, Kan., assembly plant that builds the sedan to assemble the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt. GM on Wednesday said it will pause production of the Cadillac XT4 crossover at Fairfax Assembly from January 2025 until the plant comes back online later that year, according to Automotive News.

Fairfax will then make both the gasoline-powered XT4 and the Bolt EV on the same assembly line, "which gives GM flexibility to respond to changes in customer demand," spokesperson Kevin Kelly said in a statement.

"To facilitate the installation of tooling and other plant modifications, after nine generations and over 10 million global sales, GM will end production of the Chevrolet Malibu in November 2024 and pause production of the Cadillac XT4 after January 2025," Kelly said in a statement first provided to The Detroit News. "This will result in a layoff until production resumes for affected employees. Affected employees will be supported according to the provisions of the UAW-GM agreement."

Fairfax Assembly, which opened in 1987 to build the Pontiac Grand Prix, has about 2,200 employees. Both stamping and assembly operations will be impacted by the downtime, Kelly said.

The Malibu was a consistent presence in Chevy's lineup from 1964 until 1983, before returning for its fifth generation as a 1997 model. The car last was redesigned for 2016. U.S. sales declined 13 percent in the first quarter to 32,749, after rising 13 percent in 2023 to 130,342, according to the Automotive News Research and Data Center. Since returning in 1996, Malibu sales peaked at 227,881 in 2016.

Source: Automotive News