GM Adds a Shift at SUV Plant in Tennessee

General Motors Co. is restoring third-shift production in September at its SUV/crossover vehicle plant in Spring Hill, Tenn.

The facility’s 2,600 hourly workers assemble the Cadillac XT5 and GMC Acadia crossovers. Adding a third shift will hike employment by about 700 workers. Many of the new hires will come from a pool of workers laid off at Spring Hill last November.

The plant also may hire some workers who are being laid off at GM’s factory in Lordstown, Ohio, which makes the slow-selling Chevrolet Cruze sedan.

Spring Hill is tooling up to add a second Cadillac crossover model this autumn. It also plans to add a right-hand-drive version of the Acadia for GM’s Holden brand in Australia, Automotive News reports.

Last year, U.S. sales of the Acadia and XT5 surged 26% to 111,300 units and 73% to 68,300 units, respectively, according to Autodata Corp. Year-on-year demand for the two models in the first quarter of 2018 advanced 3% and 10%, respectively.