Lordstown could face more downtime

Staff report

LORDSTOWN

The General Motors Lords-town Complex could start off the year with production downtime.

United Auto Workers leaders were informed Thursday that the first two weeks of January, after a week holiday break, are marked on the calender as placeholders for downtime.

The downtime is subject is change.

This year, the plant saw several weeks of downtime. GM said earlier in the year there would be several down weeks this year to align Chevrolet Cruze supply with demand.

In March, the plant was down for three weeks. There was a scheduled two-week vacation at the end of June, and three weeks of extended shutdown were added to Lordstown’s schedule in July. In September, the plant saw two more weeks of downtime.

Sales of the Cruze, a compact car that launched at Lordstown in 2010, have slipped as consumers turn from cars to crossovers and sport utility vehicles.

October was one of three months in the history of Cruze sedan sales that the Lordstown-built car had fewer than 10,000 sales.

Dealers sold 8,646 Cruze sedans. The Mexico-built Cruze hatchback had 2,477 sales during the month, which had one fewer selling day than October 2016 when there were more than 17,000 Cruzes sold.