General Motors Corp. announced another round of production cuts Monday affecting its gasoline-guzzling truck and sport utility vehicle (SUV) production lines.
The troubled US automaker said the output cuts would result in a drop of production of 117,000 units between now and the end of the year.
The cuts will fall heavily on GM's giant Hummer brand which has suffered falling sales as gasoline prices have jumped higher this year.
The automaker plans to cut production at its main Hummer plant by one third and bring the total number of cuts to more than 287,000 units, or very close to the goal of 300,000 outlined in June by GM chairman Richard Wagoner.
“The cuts are a continuation of earlier announcements,” said GM spokesman Tony Sapienza. “It's incremental to the 170,000 units that we announced last month.”
A slowing US economy, which has been roiled by a lingering housing market slump, has hit sales of large trucks and SUVs in recent months.
GM said its plants at Moraine, Ohio and Shreveport, Louisiana, would be affected by the cuts.
In addition, GM is also taking steps to reduce truck production at plants in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at a Canadian plant in Oshawa, Ontario, and Silao, Mexico.
GM also will shut down production for several weeks this autumn at its truck plants in Flint and Pontiac, Michigan, Sapienza said.
The giant automaker had previously identified plans for cutting about 170,000 trucks and SUVs from its production schedules by the end of the year.
GM has also reached an agreement with Canadian auto workers that could defuse a dispute ignited by the automaker's plans to close its Oshawa truck plant as part of a reduction in its truck production.
The agreement was reached after GM agreed to add some new shifts at the Canadian plant, union officials said.
