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- Spring Hill will create a Cadillac Lyriq SUV and a Vistiq, but Fairfax is currently closed as it is currently preparing to produce a Chevrolet Volt EV. Cami produces Brightdrop Electric Delivery Van.
- The production changes come shortly after the partial closure of zero electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Detroit Hamtramuk.
The Spring Hill Assembly plant in Tennessee is planning weeks of downtime in the coming months, according to a memo obtained by the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA Today network.
Additionally, the Detroit automaker told the Free Press on September 4 that it was coordinating future production plans at its Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City, Kansas and the Cammy Assembly plant line in Ontario, Canada.
Spring Hill will create a Cadillac Lyriq SUV and a Vistiq, but Fairfax is currently closed as it is currently preparing to produce a Chevrolet Volt EV. Cami produces Brightdrop Electric Delivery Van.
“By leveraging flexible ice and EV manufacturing footprint, General Motors is strategically adjusting the expected integrity of the expected EV industry growth and customer demand,” GM spokesman Kevin Kelly said in a statement. GM’s US manufacturing footprint remains our strength, investing nearly $5 billion over the next two years to further increase domestic vehicle production, allowing us to assemble more than 2 million vehicles per year in the US. ”
Spring Hill will close the week of October 6th and Thanksgiving, as well as the month of December. According to a note sent to employees, the changes will affect the teams assemble the vehicle assembly and battery packs for the EV battery. Ultium Cell employees are not affected.
Separately, the Fairfax Assembly, which ended production earlier this year for the Cadillac XT4 and Chevrolet Malibu, is no longer planning to add a second shift as construction increases with bolts. GM said it plans to begin assembly of Fairfax’s gas-powered Chevrolet equinox by mid-2027 this summer.
The company’s website said it plans to start with one shift in November, but GM said it will wait for market conditions before making a decision to expand to the second shift.
Meanwhile, the suspension of production at CAMI will be extended until November 17th. The CAMI assembly performed two shifts during production of its Chevrolet Brightdrop vehicle, but GM said the plant would begin a temporary layoff in April. Unifor said those layoffs will continue until October. During this downtime, GM says it will complete retouring operations to prepare the facility for production of its 2026 model commercial electric vehicle.
Once production resumes, the factory will operate in one shift in the near future. This is a decline expected to affect 450 workers.
Factory Zero will also change plans
The production changes come shortly after the partial closure of zero electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Detroit Hamtramuk.
Last week, GM told employees that the factory would partially close production for the first and second shifts, starting on Labor Day, and when it resumed on October 6, the temporary layoffs for the second shift production announced by GM on April 6 affected production of GMC Hummer EV and Cadillacalade IQ, resulting in around 360 employees.
Strategic adjustments at Spring Hill also include temporary reductions in staffing levels, the memo said.
GM confirmed that around 700 employees will be fired in Spring Hill.
Battery operations on the Spring Hill Vehicle Assembly and site will only be performed on the first shift from January to May 2026, as per the notes. Affected employees may be placed in layoff status and may be eligible for sub-pays and benefits pursuant to national UAW/GM agreements.
“We understand that this is difficult news, and at the same time, it’s important to remember that Spring Hill has a bright future,” the memo said. “We have won multiple product allocations, including the next generation Cadillac XT5 and the gas-powered Chevrolet Blazer.
EV sales are strong, but uncertain
Electric vehicle sales spiked in July and August as buyers tried to make use of up to $7,500 in federal tax credits before the September 30 deadline.
According to Sam Abuelsamid, Telemetry’s vice president of market research, the automakers preparing to slow down are now beginning to announce production.
“Given the situation where tax credits are no longer available at the end of the month, the cars that were purchased in the fourth quarter are currently being purchased,” he said. “Automobile manufacturers plan to adjust production according to what they are selling.”
On September 2, GM said that sales of more than 21,000 EVs from Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC set the highest ever record for the automaker.
Still, the company supports its decline in sales of EVs, and Duncan Aldred, GM Senior Vice President and North American president, said in a statement that the company will be mindful of its EV production plans.
“We expect strong demand again in September. The problem is, of course, this is what we’re talking about. There’s no doubt that sales will drop in the next quarter after the tax credit ends on September 30th. It may take several months for the market to normalize,” says Aldred. “We almost certainly see a smaller EV market for a while, but we don’t over-produce. ”
On September 3, Ford Motor reported profits from US retail sales in August. This is driven largely by EV sales. EV sales are rare as they were muted. The demand for them was not as strong as the industry had predicted a few years ago. The charging infrastructure and high price tag that lags on EVS were hampering sales just 12 months ago.
According to the Kelley Blue Book, the average trading price for new EVs across all brands in July was $55,689. In comparison, the average trading price for new cars in July was $48,841.
Still, Ford reported a 19% spike in retail EV sales, totaling 10,671 sales in August. However, for the first eight months of the year, Ford EV sales fell 5.7% to 57,888 compared to the same period last year.
Analysts said that sales profits for EVs are not sustainable this year. Therefore, GM is currently adjusting production.
Karl Brauer, executive analyst at ISEeCars.com, told Free Press that EV sales spikes will continue until the end of September on all EV models, and that “whip saw” in the opposite direction as EV sales evaporates in the fourth quarter.
“This is a predictable pattern, and we see it every time a large purchase incentive is removed from the market,” Brower said.
Jackie Charniga covers General Motors for the Free Press. Contact her at jcharniga@freepress.com. Jamie L. Larrow is a senior Autos writer covering Ford Motor Company for the Detroit Free Press. Please contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jarouan. Sign up for our car newsletter. Become a subscriber.
