DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. will cut production at 11 plants in the United States and Canada this month, aiming to reduce a swelling backlog of unsold cars and trucks.
The week of Jan. 8, GM will idle car plants in Wilmington, Del., Kansas City, Kan., Ste. Therese, Quebec and Oakland County's Orion Township. Four truck plants in Doraville, Ga., Shreveport, La., Linden, N.J., and Wentzville, Mo., also will be idled.
The Shreveport, Wentzville and Ste. Therese plants will be down the week of Jan. 15 as well. The following two weeks, GM will idle the Orion Township plant again, as well as the Oshawa, Ontario, car plant, the Oklahoma City plant and the Lordstown, Ohio, plant.
Altogether, about 32,000 workers will be affected. GM, Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler arm of DaimlerChrysler AG all have cut production this month, with Ford and Chrysler announcing one-week shutdowns for much of January. The moves follow a sharp decline in U.S. auto sales and no sign of recovery in the next few months.
Automakers also are trying to avoid pushing sales with higher incentives, believing that the cost of plant shutdowns -- and the resulting decrease in revenue -- is cheaper. U.S. workers covered by the United Auto Workers will get 95 percent of their regular pay, while Canadian Auto Workers will get 65 percent.
GM said Wednesday that its December sales were down 18 percent. Executives said that GM had about 1.3 million vehicles in inventory; at December's sales rate, that would leave the automaker with about 98 days supply, far higher than the 60-day industry standard.
