General Motors Adding More Workers To Volt Plant

General Motors announced Thursday that it would add a second shift to a flexible Detroit plant to prepare for upcoming demand for its cars.

GM will add roughly 1,200 jobs to Detroit-Hamtramck this year to help it build new models, the automaker said in a statement. The plant builds the Chevrolet Volt, Impala and Malibu and the Cadillac ELR there on a single production line. Production of the Cadillac CT6 will start there in early 2016.

According to Automotive News, the plant has three separate lines that can produce a varying number of cars from the Volt to the upcoming redesigned Buick LaCrosse, if production of that car shifts from Kansas City.

The report also says that while the automaker has invested about $1 billion into the 4.1-million square-foot facility over the last five years, the plant has been largely under-utilized. Only 48,400 vehicles have been produced at Hamtramck so far this year. GM’s similarly sized Fairfax plant in Kansas has made around 140,000 this year.

Hamtramck also makes limited quantities of the Malibu and Impala in addition to the Fairfax and Oshawa plants that normally produce those cars. While demand for the Malibu is spiking — especially in Korea — the Impala faces a more uncertain future.

GM CEO Mary Barra recently said that the automaker would consider all models’ performances and futures, and considering Impala’s doesn’t look particularly bright at the moment, the added shift could be particularly unsettling for GM’s Oshawa plant. Sales of the Impala have drifted since their peak in 2007, when Chevrolet sold more than 311,000 models in the U.S. In 2014, Chevrolet sold less than half: 140,280, according to our own Tim Cain.

Automotive News reported that Hamtramck produced about 27,000 Impalas at Hamtramck, compared to 76,000 in Oshawa.

A GM spokeswoman said the added workers at Hamtramck would build all models at the plant — including Impala.