General Motors plans to add a second shift worth as many as 1,000 jobs to its Detroit-Hamtramck plant late this year, as the automaker prepares to ramp up production of its Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car.
Current plans have second-shift workers arriving for training late this year and starting production in earnest in early 2012, plant manager Teri Quigley told the Free Press Tuesday on the sidelines of an event recognizing the facility as a Michigan Clean Corporate Citizen.
The timing for adding the shift could change as GM continues to weigh its Volt production schedule amid rising oil prices.
GM is seeking to build more than 25,000 Volts this year, up from the original target of about 10,000, CEO Dan Akerson has said, as the automaker prepares to battle higher gas prices and make money on the Volt. Executives are debating a decision to produce 120,000 Volts annually starting next year, well above the current estimate of 45,000.
The Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which is also slated to help the Fairfax, Kan., factory build the next-generation Chevrolet Malibu when it debuts next year, is expected to stop producing the aged Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS sedans this year.
Jobs working on Detroit-Hamtramck's second shift would go first to any laid-off U.S. workers, who currently number about 2,500. Plant leadership told the Free Press in October the factory currently needs 900 to 1,000 people per shift, although GM spokesman Chris Lee said it’s too early to tell how many employees will make up the second shift.
With current production levels and design, each Volt costs $40,000 to build, not including development costs, Steve Rattner, former head of the Obama administration's auto task force, wrote in his recent book.
The car's suggested retail price is $41,000, minus at least $7,500 in federal and state tax credits.
Akerson has said he hopes the Volt will be profitable within three years.
Along with adding the second shift, the Volt factory plans to use solar panels to start supplementing some of the plant's electricity usage, said Frank Moultrie, chairman of Detroit-Hamtramck's UAW Local 22.
That effort should begin in 2011, Quigley said.
The Clean Corporate Citizen award, given by Michigan's Department of Natural Resources and Environment, rewards facilities that have shown a pattern of environmental stewardship. CCCs get regulatory benefits, such as expedited permits.
The Volt plant is GM's seventh CCC facility. Ford has five, and Chrysler has one.
Source: FreePress
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