General Motors is cutting 1,100 jobs at a Michigan plant where it manufactures SUVs — the fourth time it has announced layoffs since November.
The cuts at the Lansing Delta Township plant will eliminate the facility’s third shift, with GM moving production of a new version of the GMC Acadia to Spring Hill, Tenn., where it added 800 jobs last year.
U.S. automakers have been under pressure from President Trump to build more cars domestically and GM said in January it would invest another $1 billion in U.S. factories. But as Reuters reports, it has continued to cut jobs amid lower demand for cars as Americans buy more SUVs and other larger vehicles.
The recent layoffs have included the elimination of the third shifts at the Lansing Grand River and Lordstown, Ohio, plants and the second shift at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant. Those moves amounted to the loss of about 3,300 jobs.
The Lansing Delta Township plant currently employs 3,000 hourly workers and 250 salaried workers. GM confirmed on Monday that the new generation Buick Enclave will be made at the plant, joining the new generation Chevrolet Traverse.
“The new Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse enter the market at a time when crossovers have become the most vibrant, dynamic and fast-growing models of the industry,” a company spokeswoman said.
A United Auto Workers official said the union had been pushing for a product to replace the Acadia at Lansing Delta Township. “I know [GM] wants to utilize the plant at full capacity,” Bill Reed, president of UAW Local 602, told the Detroit Free Press.
GM sold 116,701 Traverses last year, a 2.7% decrease from 2015, while the Enclave sold 52,028 units last year, a 16% decline. It has invested $583 million in the plant since 2014 and analysts believe it could make a Cadillac crossover there.
