General Motors’ all-new pickup trucks have been facing tough competition from an equally-new Toyota Tundra , as well as heavily discounted Dodge and Ford models. GM’s heavy duty models, in particular, have seen the biggest drop in sales, due in part to high gas prices, according to the automaker. Now, GM is looking to slow down production at its Pontiac, Mich., plant in order to reduce the automaker’s unsold inventory.
GM currently builds 54 trucks an hour, a figure that the automaker is looking to scale back to 45, according to The Oakland Press. The Pontiac plant has about 3,000 hourly and salaried employees. In order to meet the 17 percent production cut, as many 475 employees could be taken out of the equation.
GM could move some of those workers to its nearby Orion Township, Mich., plant. GM and the United Auto Workers haven’t discussed what to do with the employees.
