Body fitter Matt Bowen works on a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro on the production line at the General Motors Co. Lansing Grand River Assembly plant in Lansing, Michigan, U.S., on Monday, Oct. 26, 2015.Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg
For unionized auto workers, even amid a booming U.S. market, the only safe jobs of late have been building pickups and sport utility vehicles.
Within the next month, General Motors Co. plans to permanently cut about 3,300 employees at three car plants, as the largest U.S. auto maker slashes production of models including the Chevrolet Cruze compact. The Detroit-based company also plans to temporarily lay off employees across five of its U.S. car factories, while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is trimming production at two plants in Canada.
Workers are bearing the brunt of a shift in consumer preference toward trucks that's been swift enough to cost them their jobs, even as total U.S. vehicle sales flirt with last year's record. With cheap gasoline spurring demand for more fuel-efficient SUVs and pickups, auto makers have been forced to dial back car output to address swelling inventory.
"It's a pendulum and now it's shifting our way," said Glen Johnson, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112 in Lordstown, Ohio, where 1,200 workers making the Cruze will be dismissed next month. "It wasn't that long ago that gas was $3.50 [U.S.] a gallon and we were feeling for our friends in truck plants."
GM's plan to cut 1,300 workers at its Detroit-Hamtramck car plant was disclosed Monday in an official notice to the state of Michigan. The factory makes the Chevrolet Impala, Buick Lacrosse and Cadillac CT6 sedans, as well as the Volt plug-in hybrid.
Earlier Monday, GM said it was temporarily idling production at five U.S. passenger-car plants, and Fiat Chrysler said it would halt output for New Year's week at two Canadian vehicle factories making Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Challenger sedans and Chrysler Pacifica minivans.
In November, GM said it planned to end a third daily shift building Cruze in Lordstown and dismiss 800 employees at its factory assembling the Chevrolet Camaro and Cadillac CTS and ATS models in Lansing, Michigan.
"It's all car plants," said David Whiston, an analyst for Morningstar Inc. "Compact cars and sedans are out of favour, so you have to cut the production."
In using shorter-term shutdowns in January, GM is trying to reduce inventory from an almost 90 days supply to about 70 days by the end of next month, according to Dayna Hart, a company spokeswoman. In addition to the factories in Detroit-Hamtramck, Lansing and Lordstown, the plants being idled are in Bowling Green, Ky., and the Fairfax industrial district of Kansas City, Kan.
The consumer shift from cars to crossovers and trucks "is projected to continue," Ms. Hart said in an e-mail. "We are adjusting stock imbalances."
Workers at Fairfax assemble the Buick Lacrosse and Chevrolet Malibu, while Bowling Green builds Chevy Corvette sports cars.
Several of the cars GM is dialling back production have been redesigned or are new to the market, including the Buick Lacrosse and Cadillac CT6, Mr. Whiston said. It's rare for auto makers to cut production of recently introduced models because consumers usually are keen to buy fresh designs, he said.
Fiat Chrysler said it's adding four off days following the Jan. 2 observation of New Year's Day at plants in Windsor and Brampton, Ont.. The moves are to align production with demand, Jodi Tinson, a company spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
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Ford's production in Venzuela halted
Ford Motor Co. halted auto production in Venezuela last week and will not resume it until April, a company executive said on Tuesday, in another blow to the crisis-wracked country's manufacturing sector.
"It is a measure to adjust production to demand in the country," Lyle Watters, Ford Motor's president for South America, told reporters at an event in Sao Paulo, adding that the plant affected by the shutdown employs 2,000 workers.
Mr. Watters said the production freeze would not affect Ford's consolidated results as operations in Venezuela are reported separately.
Beginning in the first quarter of this year, Venezuela became the only wholly-owned Ford unit with operating results that are excluded from its income statement.
In January, 2015, Ford took a charge related to its Venezuelan operations that cut fourth-quarter net profit by $700-million. Ford is the only auto maker still mass producing cars in Venezuela, even on a limited scale. Reuters