General Motors Cutting Production To Relieve Inventory Glut

Cameron Aubernon
by Cameron Aubernon

Facing growing dealer inventories, General Motors is cutting back production at two of its plants to adjust supply and demand.

Automotive News reports Orion Assembly in Detroit and the Flex line at Oshawa Car Assembly in Oshawa, Canada will be idled in March and April, respectively, each plant to idle for four days. Orion is responsible for the Chevrolet Sonic and Buick Verano, while the Flex line handles the Chevrolet Camaro and Impala, Buick Regal, and Cadillac XTS.

The reduction in production comes amid consumer demand for trucks and crossovers over said vehicles, of which the Sonic and Regal hold the highest inventory levels at 216 and 213 days as of February 1, 2015. The Sonic’s inventory level is the highest since the subcompact’s August 2011 debut, while the Regal jumped to its level from just 96 days back on January 1.

Cameron Aubernon
Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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  • Jeff S Jeff S on Feb 26, 2015

    I usually keep my vehicles well over 10 years. I don't drive as much as I use to and I keep the maintenance up. Keeping a vehicle longer depends on your financial ability to afford a newer vehicle and how you maintain a vehicle. I have owned very few vehicles that have been so bad that I couldn't keep them for at least 10 years.

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    • APaGttH APaGttH on Feb 28, 2015

      @highdesertcat I'll bite on this one. We have three vehicles. The newest one is an '09 built in '08. We have the resources to buy just about any vehicle we want (say $100K or under). We choose to have a motor pool of 6, 9, and 11 years old because we see cars basically as depreciating assets. It doesn't quite disprove your point, but in our neighborhood the uninformed driving by? They'd the one or two visible vehicles in the driveway were for the help.

  • Namstrap Namstrap on Feb 26, 2015

    A few months ago on a trip to England, I saw lots of stripped down Regals doing taxi service. They looked fairly large compared to most other cars. They were actually Vauxhall Insignias, sister of the Opel Insignia, and all of them had the familiar clattering of a diesel engine.

  • Ronnie Schreiber Ronnie Schreiber on Feb 27, 2015

    When the Verano was introduced, I asked one of the GM execs, Jon Lauckner, if there was market space beneath the LaCrosse for two small sedans - wasn't there the possibility that the Verano would cannibalize sales from the Regal? Now both of them are selling slowly - though some of that can be attributed to the state of sedan sales in general today.

  • Readallover Readallover on Feb 27, 2015

    I shopped Regal and ATS and they have something else in common: The back seats are essentially useless. It happened with Malibu, people buying sedans want some usable leg space for the back seat passengers - how can GM not figure this out?

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