General Motors News

[PD84]

Does anyone have the figures as to how much money GM still owes the American people?

It is my understanding a lot of the debt was “forgiven” whatever that means.

[kscarbel2]

10 minutes ago, PD84 said:

Does anyone have the figures as to how much money GM still owes the American people?

It is my understanding a lot of the debt was “forgiven” whatever that means.

Reuters  /  April 30, 2014

The U.S. government lost $11.2 billion on its bailout of General Motors, more than the $10.3 billion the Treasury Department estimated when it sold its remaining GM shares in December.

The $11.2 billion loss includes a write-off in March of the government’s remaining $826 million investment in “old” GM.

The U.S. government spent about $50 billion to bail out GM. As a result of the company’s 2009 bankruptcy, the government’s investment was converted to a 61 percent equity stake in GM, plus preferred shares and a loan.

Treasury whittled down its GM stake through a series of stock sales starting in November 2010, with the remaining shares sold on December 9, 2013.

At the time of the December sale, Treasury put the total loss at $10.3 billion but said it did not expect any significant proceeds from its remaining $826 million investment in “old” GM.

“The goal of Treasury’s investment in GM was never to make a profit, but to help save the American auto industry, and by any measure that effort was successful,” Treasury Department spokesman Adam Hodge said.

Last week, GM posted its 17th consecutive profitable quarter.

[PD84]

Thank you sir, you are a wealth of knowledge,keep it coming!

 

[RoadwayR]

When talking of how much money the federal govt. 'lost' on GM you have to consider the revenue of all the GM payroll taxes and GM employee income taxes the U.S. government has collected since the bankruptcy.  Not to mention how much revenue would have been lost through the subsequent failures of GM's supplier base had GM gone out of business.  Which would have likely taken Ford out too.  GM has made some phenomenally stupid moves over the past 100 or so years, but you can't really blame the banking crisis on them.  Ford was one of the few corporations that saw it coming.          

[kscarbel2]

https://www.gm.com/masthead-story/manufacturing-ventilator-ventec-covid.html

[kscarbel2]

GM rolls out safety protocols for ventilator-making workers

Nick Carey, Reuters  /  March 2, 2020

General Motors on Thursday rolled out a series of safety measures for workers in Indiana who will make ventilators.

More than 1,000 GM workers will make the ventilators at GM’s Kokomo, Indiana, plant. The automaker aims to begin mass production by mid-April and to make 10,000 ventilators a month by summer.

The measures include checking workers’ temperature as they arrive for work, and each work station will be placed at least 6 feet (1.83 m) apart.

There will be a 30-minute interval between shifts so workers can clean their work stations when they arrive and before they leave. Cleaning crews will sanitize common areas and “touch areas” such as door handles, at least three times per shift.

GM said the measures may form a blueprint for safety protocols at the rest of GM’s plants once the automaker decides to restart production when the pandemic crisis recedes.

Earlier this week, Ford said it will produce 50,000 ventilators over the next 100 days at a plant in Michigan in cooperation with General Electric’s healthcare unit. It said it can then build 30,000 per month as needed to treat patients afflicted with the coronavirus.

Ford plans to deploy “a whole host of techs to keep workers safe,” developed in cooperation with the United Auto Workers union.

Ford will organize production lines so workers are a safe distance apart and use technology to check their health.

GM has been working with ventilator firm Ventec Life Systems, numerous auto suppliers and other ventilator firms as officials warn the United States may need tens of thousands of additional ventilators to treat seriously ill patients.

[kscarbel2]

GM to co-develop EVs for Honda

Hannah Lutz, Automotive News  /  April 2, 2020

General Motors will help develop two new electric vehicles (EV) for Honda that will be powered by GM's upcoming Ultium batteries.

Honda will design the interior and exterior of the vehicles. They will ride on GM's global EV platform, which "will be engineered to support Honda's driving character," the companies said in a joint statement.

GM will build the EVs at its North American plants, and sales are expected to begin in the 2024 model year in Honda's U.S. and Canadian markets.

The vehicles will offer GM's hands-free advanced driver-assist technology. The technology mirrors GM's Super Cruise system but will have Honda-specific branding.

"This collaboration will put together the strength of both companies, while combined scale and manufacturing efficiencies will ultimately provide greater value to customers," said Rick Schostek, executive vice president of American Honda. "This expanded partnership will unlock economies of scale to accelerate our electrification road map and advance our industry-leading efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

GM and Honda's electrification partnership goes back to 2013, when the automakers jointly developed hydrogen fuel cell technology. The companies also worked together on the Cruise Origin, a self-driving, shared electric van unveiled in January. Honda invested $2.75 billion into GM's Cruise subsidiary last year and became involved in GM's battery module development efforts starting in 2018.

The companies continue to evaluate the possibility of extending the partnership further, Schostek said.

As part of the agreement, Honda will incorporate GM's OnStar safety and security services into the vehicles, integrating them with HondaLink.

The agreement "further validates the technical advancements and capabilities of our Ultium batteries and our all-new EV platform," said Doug Parks, GM executive vice president of global product development. "It is another step on our journey to an all-electric future and delivering a profitable EV business through increased scale and capacity utilization. We have a terrific history of working closely with Honda, and this new collaboration builds on our relationship and like-minded objectives."

Honda has long resisted jumping on the EV bandwagon, insisting that hybrids are more appropriate for the North American market. At the same time, the company has stressed its partnerships with GM on hydrogen fuel cell development and autonomous driving.

Honda debuted its Honda e small EV in Europe in January but said there were no plans for the city car with limited EV range to come to the U.S. Honda also recently discontinued its Clarity EV in the U.S. The Clarity had only 89 miles of range and was considered a "compliance car" to meet zero-emissions vehicle regulations in California and other states.

GM, meanwhile, has pledged $20 billion toward electric and autonomous vehicle programs through 2025. It plans to build 20 EVs globally by 2023 and is converting its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant into an EV manufacturing hub with a $3 billion investment.

GM's proprietary Ultium battery, which it will manufacture through a $2.3 billion joint venture with South Korea’s LG Chem in Ohio, will allow for a range of up to 400 miles on a full charge — about 50 percent more than the 259-mile range for the 2020 Chevrolet Bolt.

The batteries have large-format, stackable pouch-style cells for more flexibility and optimal battery energy storage. They are made of a traditional nickel-cobalt-manganese combination, but GM also added aluminum to reduce the amount of costly cobalt by 70 percent.

GM last month said the Ultium technology would allow its battery costs to drop below $100 per kilowatt-hour, the threshold widely seen as making EVs competitive with internal-combustion vehicles. The company projects its EV sales in North America and China combined will reach 1 million a year by the middle of the decade.

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[kscarbel2]

GM to supply 30,000 ventilators as part of $490M government contract

Detroit Free Press  /  April 8, 2020

General Motors has signed a $489.4 million federal contract to build 30,000 ventilators, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed early Wednesday.

The deal was awarded under the Defense Production Act.

The contract calls for GM to deliver 30,000 ventilators to the country's Strategic National Stockpile by the end of August.

Under the initial production schedule, GM will deliver 6,132 ventilators by June 1. 

GM is partnering with Ventec Life Systems.

Volume production is expected to begin the week of April 13.

[kscarbel2]

https://www.gm.com/our-stories/commitment/face-masks-covid-production.html

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[kscarbel2]

An Inside Look at How General Motors is Mass-Producing Masks

https://www.gm.com/our-stories/commitment/face-masks-covid-production.html

 

[kscarbel2]

GM Suspends Dividend and Buybacks in Pivot to Cash-Piling Mode

David Welch, Bloomberg  /  April 27, 2020

GM suspended its dividend and the share-buyback program that activist investors fought for in the last half decade as the largest U.S. automaker seeks to preserve cash in the midst of the pandemic shutting down much of the global car industry.

GM also said it’s extending its credit line by $3.6 billion to boost liquidity.

Monday’s moves follow other cash-preservation measures announced last month, with the company deferring 20% of salaried workers’ pay and cutting top executives’ compensation.

Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra first announced a major buyback in 2015 after fending off an activist campaign by a former Treasury Department official who was representing several hedge funds. She expanded the program to as much as $14 billion two years later in the midst of another battle with billionaire hedge fund manager David Einhorn.

Barra, 58, has had to shift focus from pleasing investors to preserving cash after closing down most of GM’s plants last month. Ford Motor Co. has already suspended its dividend.

GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV have all been working toward restarting production in early May, but it’s unclear whether state and local governments will lift their stay-home orders to allow them to do so. The United Auto Workers union also has said it opposes the companies reopening so soon.

[TS7]

I see hard times ahead for GM, Ford and FCA. UAW and worker's do not want to go back to work now, there getting fat on $900+ a week to sit home. We will see in a few months how this works out. I hope that autoworker's do not choke on that extra $600 a week. I hope I am wrong, but I see auto and truck sales being way down this year. Will see.

[Terry T]

6 hours ago, TS7 said:

I see hard times ahead for GM, Ford and FCA. UAW and worker's do not want to go back to work now, there getting fat on $900+ a week to sit home. We will see in a few months how this works out. I hope that autoworker's do not choke on that extra $600 a week. I hope I am wrong, but I see auto and truck sales being way down this year. Will see.

I talked with my cousin on Sunday who is a GM/UAW employee.  He's ready to go back to work to start getting a paycheck again.  "900.00 a week" is a pay cut.  Also, in Indiana, the state income tax is not taken from unemployment insurance so you have to remember to bank extra to make up for that come April of 2021. The one thing that he is really enjoying right now is NOT working 6 days a week which was mandated at the 1st of the year for his plant.

My company, locally, has furloughed 12 people so far and the only one who is doing better on unemployment than working is a part-time office clerk. She is making 917.00 a week which is a few hundred more than she makes working. The rest are hurting and those of us working do NOT want to be furloughed. I know I don't want to take that kind of hit.

[TS7]

I agree with you on the tax issue. But I know plant management people who work at Ford and GM who say they are having a hard time getting skilled trades to come back to work to get lines started. I can say for fact as a union highway  contractor that here a lot trade people are not wanting to work right now. Good for you that you see the value in working, but a lot do not. The roads around here jammed with people driving around going anywhere but to work. Shelter in place my ass. Early in the morning,  no traffic, starting about 10 AM, looks like rush hour the rest of the day. 

[kscarbel2]

Federal Government Subpoenas GM Financial Documents from 2005–2019

Car & Driver  /  April 29, 2020

In the five months since General Motors attacked Fiat Chrysler in a fraud lawsuit based on charges that its rival was involved in racketeering with the United Auto Workers, the Feds have pointed their crosshairs straight back at GM. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department is looking at corruption schemes between the UAW and GM as the U.S. bolsters its unprecedented criminal probe into one of the country's most powerful unions.

Federal investigators have interviewed both current and former GM employees within the company's labor relations department and, in particular, have subpoenaed financial records from the UAW-GM joint employee training center—the very same jointly owned entity that at FCA has led to the indictments of 14 former FCA and UAW officials, the majority of whom have pleaded guilty. Four union reps are currently in prison.

GM agreed to shut down its training center this year, as the UAW was on strike for five weeks. That plant shutdown cost GM more than $1 billion—and it helps to explain why GM filed the lawsuit against FCA shortly afterward.

But the WSJ says that relatives of union leaders were given jobs in return for bribes and that there are more GM employees and UAW officials who orchestrated a kickback scheme, which led to last year's arrest of former union vice president Joe Ashton. He pleaded guilty in December of having funneled a quarter-million dollars into his own pocket, according to federal prosecutors. At least one scheme involved 50,000 wristwatches that Ashton ordered from the UAW-GM Training Center for UAW members, who allegedly never received them.

GM claims that corruption between the UAW and FCA is the reason it lost billions on two labor contracts it signed with the UAW in 2011 and 2015. Yet that case will certainly lose merit if investigators find GM to be just as culpable as FCA in what appears to be a sordid game of bribes, shakedowns, and embezzlements.

[kscarbel2]

GM stays profitable in Q1 despite shutdowns

Hannah Lutz, Automotive News  /  May 6, 2020

DETROIT — General Motors' first-quarter net income plunged 87 percent, but earnings in North America rose even as the coronavirus pandemic drove production to a standstill.

The $294 million profit made GM the only one of the Detroit 3 to avoid a first-quarter loss after the companies closed all of their U.S. plants in mid-March. GM said the crisis reduced its adjusted earnings by $1.4 billion before interest and taxes.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles posted a first-quarter net loss of $1.8 billion, and Ford Motor Co. lost $2 billion. Ford warned that its operating loss would exceed $5 billion in the second quarter.

GM said it aims to reopen most plants in the U.S. and Canada on May 18, mirroring a plan announced Tuesday by FCA. Despite the plants being closed for the last two weeks of the quarter, strong sales of pickups and big SUVs pushed North American profits to $2.2 billion, a 16 percent increase from the first quarter of 2019.

Global revenue fell 6.2 percent to $32.7 billion, and the company's profit margin decreased 2.8 points to 3.8 percent. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes decreased 46 percent to $1.25 billion.

GM shares surged 7 percent to $22.75 in morning trading in New York.

Struggles ahead

CFO Dhivya Suryadevara said GM would be hit harder in the second quarter but declined to provide any projections for that period or the full year.

"We are not providing formal guidance at this time," she said on a conference call. "It's too early to tell until the economy opens up."

In a statement, GM said it intends to resume "the majority of manufacturing operations on May 18 in the U.S. and Canada under extensive safety measures." That plan, which is being developed in coordination with the UAW and government officials, would mean the company missed out on about two months' worth of production.

UAW President Rory Gamble, in a statement Wednesday, did not object to GM's May 18 restart date after calling earlier plans to reopen plants as of May 4 "too risky."

"The companies contractually make that decision and we all knew this day would come at some point," the statement said, echoing what the union said Tuesday about FCA's restart plans. "Our UAW focus and role is and will continue to be, on health and safety protocols to protect our members."

GM's international regions lost $551 million in the first quarter, vs. a gain of $31 million a year earlier, and China equity income fell $543 million, primarily because of coronavirus shutdowns in that country.

Earnings from GM Financial decreased 36 percent to $230 million.

Suryadevara said the pandemic has resulted in minor product changes, such as deferred freshenings, but has not interrupted GM’s work on electric and autonomous vehicles.

In March, GM invested $20 billion in EV and AV development, and the automaker has said it plans to launch 20 EVs globally by 2023.

'Continue as planned'

“Our key product programs … whether it’s our full-size SUV franchise or EV and AV… they will continue as planned,” she said.

GM is in a unique position in its product cycle, she added. The automaker had already launched all-new architectures for a variety of platforms before the pandemic.

“If you look at the product cadence that we are on, we happen to be in the sweet spot where we have made a lot of the investment already from an ICE perspective,” Suryadevara said.

When plants reopen, GM will prioritize profitable products that dealers are running low on, such as pickups, she said. “Obviously truck is our strong suit and that's something we are we're going to capitalize on,” she said.

Visits to GM’s Shop-Click-Drive online car-shopping tool have increased 40 percent during the pandemic, she said. About 3,500 GM dealerships have access to the tool, an increase of about 800 since the crisis started and many dealers converted to virtual sales.

GM is on track with the restructuring plan it launched in 2018, Suryadevara said. It expects to contribute $6 billion in cash savings by the end of this year, and in the first quarter, GM put another $300 million toward that goal, she said.

Liquidity measures

GM ended the quarter with $33.4 billion in automotive liquidity, including $16 billion recently drawn from revolving credit lines. The automaker bolstered its cash reserves by reducing paychecks for all salaried employees globally by 20 percent, promising to make up for the lost income within a year.

It also extended $3.6 billion under its three-year revolving credit agreement, and GM and GM Financial renewed their 364-day $2 billion revolver.

The automaker has been stoking demand during the crisis with no-interest, 84-month loans and deferred payments of up to 120 days to customers in top credit tiers.

GM last week created a health and safety manual to instruct team leaders on the company's new safety protocol.

"In these uncertain times, we must focus on controlling what we can, and we will continue to take the appropriate actions. As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, we are ready to adapt and make any changes to policy in accordance with relevant health and safety protocols issued by authorities," CEO Mary Barra and Jim Glynn, vice president of global workplace safety, said in the 48-page guide.

GM's manual outlines requirements for physical distancing, wearing face masks and safety glasses, and participating in health questionnaires and temperature screenings.

GM's housekeeping team will clean high-traffic areas three to four times per shift, as well as between shifts. Doors will be propped open when possible to increase airflow and eliminate the need for workers to touch them.

[kscarbel2]

Canadian government orders 10 million face masks from GM

Greg Layson, Automotive News  /  May 26, 2020

General Motors Canada says employees at its factory in Oshawa, Ontario, will manufacture 10 million masks over the next year for the government of Canada. Production began Tuesday.

GM Canada originally announced in late April that it would use its idled assembly plant to make face masks for health care workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

The automaker said Tuesday that it will manufacture the face masks at cost for the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Minister of Public Services and Procurement Anita Anand said the agreement ensures “a steady and reliable domestic supply of this vital equipment.”

David Paterson, vice president of corporate and environmental affairs at GM Canada, would only say that the price was “very competitive” and that the automaker could offer an “assured supply” of masks, and do so quickly.

Paterson said the world is scrambling to manufacture personal protective equipment and that Canada alone will need an estimated three billion masks per year.

“The most valuable thing we offer is a guaranteed source of material,” he said.

Mask making in Oshawa is based on the process GM is using at its plant in Warren, Mich., that began a month before the work in Ontario.

Paterson said the automaker has no plans to make masks for its own employees, saying the Oshawa-made masks will be “100 percent for Canadians.”

“We already have other sources for face masks [for GM Canada],” he said. “We have our PPE requirements covered for Canada.”

It’s all part of the automaker’s global supply chain.

GM Canada President Scott Bell called the deal with the federal government “one of the proudest moments in our history.”

The company said it received its medical device establishment license on April 22. Over the course of a little more than three weeks, and with support from GM’s global supply chain, the company sourced materials, built a ‘Canadian Mask Making (CMM)’ clean room with enhanced safety protocols, installed the required equipment and recalled and trained 60 workers for two shifts of production in Oshawa in partnership with Unifor.

“Unifor members in Oshawa are highly skilled and proud to help GM make whatever our country needs to get through this pandemic,” Unifor President Jerry Dias said in the same statement.

The modern Oshawa assembly plant that produced its last vehicle on Dec. 19 dates back to 1953 and has produced everything from the Chevrolet Bel Air to the Chevrolet Silverado. 

The plant has been reduced to a stamping operation, building parts for discontinued models, although GM Canada said that work had not started yet. However, until the pandemic struck, it had been stamping parts for the CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, where the automaker builds the Chevrolet Equinox.

The parts program gives the Oshawa plant a lease on life, albeit one that employs just 300 or so people, instead of the 2,600 that had been assembling cars and trucks for years. Each aftermarket part produced there will be built for 10 years.

[kscarbel2]

GM plans electric commercial van

Reuters  /  June 4, 2020

General Motors Co is developing an electric van aimed at business users such as Amazon.com Inc and United Parcel Service.

That multibillion-dollar strategy could enable GM, Ford and at least two EV startups to build and deliver more electric vehicles at a time when consumer demand for battery-powered models is still a small fraction of overall industry sales, while targeting a potentially lucrative market segment that Tesla Inc has yet to address.

GM’s plan to develop an electric van has not previously been reported. The No. 1 U.S. automaker did not confirm the van, but has said it plans to introduce at least 20 new all-electric vehicles by 2023, in a variety of body styles including sedans, trucks and crossovers.

Suppliers familiar with such plans at GM and Ford told Reuters the Detroit automakers, which count trucks and commercial vehicles among their most profitable businesses, “don’t want to leave the door open for Tesla” as they did in consumer passenger cars.

Scott Phillippi, UPS senior director of fleet maintenance and engineering, said electric vans have the potential to disrupt the commercial market.

The GM van – code-named BV1 – is due to start production in late 2021.

It is believed the BV1 van will share some components with GM’s future electric pickups and SUVs, including the automaker’s new Ultium advanced battery system. It is expected to be assembled alongside the electric trucks at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant.

GM is considering whether to offer the electric van through its traditional truck brands - Chevrolet and GMC - or market it under a different brand such as Maven, the sources said. GM’s first electric pickup truck, due in late 2021, will be sold by GMC dealers under the Hummer brand.

In a statement, GM said it is “committed to an all-electric future and is implementing a multi-segment, scalable EV strategy to get there. At this time, we do not have any announcements to make regarding electric commercial vehicles.”

The GM electric van project is aimed at an important segment of the emerging EV market – commercial delivery vehicles. For established players, this is a hugely profitable business segment driven by cost of ownership, not fancy tech or star power. It is also a segment in which Tesla and its high-profile CEO, Elon Musk, lack an entry to compete for sales and CO2 credits, which allow automakers to offset the sale of non-electric vehicles including high-margin pickups and SUVs.

“Buyers of commercial vans want reliability and not necessarily a flashy brand name,” said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions. “The reduced maintenance and fuel use of electric vehicles become very attractive to a business customer, where the current limitations of EVs make the price premium less attractive to individual consumers.”

In February, Ford said it would introduce an electric version of its Transit van for model year 2022. “The most critical bet we will be making over the next several years will be our commercial vehicles,” Ford’s chief operating officer, Jim Farley, told Reuters at the time.

Ford also is an investor in Michigan-based startup Rivian, which is scheduled to begin building the first of 100,000 mid-size electric vans for Amazon next year.

Amazon rival UPS has commissioned 10,000 mid-size electric vans from British startup Arrival, which is backed by Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co and its sister company Kia Motors Corp.

The combined value of the Amazon and UPS contracts with Rivian and Arrival is estimated at $4 billion or more.

And more players in the segments will likely follow, including Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, said Samit Ghosh, chief executive of the Americas for consulting and engineering firm umlaut.

“The delivery vans is a volume not to be underestimated,” he said. “I would not just call it a niche segment.”

[TS7]

Why does GM need a new brand to sell a van? They use to have a true truck brand and real truck dealers, that sold real trucks class 1-8, I think it was called GMC.

[Red Horse]

2 hours ago, TS7 said:

Why does GM need a new brand to sell a van? They use to have a true truck brand and real truck dealers, that sold real trucks class 1-8, I think it was called GMC.

How true.  I recall a tag line they used...."GMC-the truck people from General Motors".

So now what have they done as they get back into class 4-6?  They kick the GMC dealers aside and give the franchise to Chevy dealers! 

If I were a GMC dealer I think I would be organizing a suit against GM.

[RoadwayR]

I think many remaining GMC dealers could care less these days.  Selling high priced premium light trucks and SUV/CUV's is far more profitable and a lot ;less hassle than selling commercial trucks.  One old and successful GMC commercial dealer near me eventually went with Isuzu back when GM dropped medium trucks.  Other GMC commercial dealers were truck centers selling multiple makes.  Interesting than some Chevy dealers that sold medium before 2009 went right back into it with the new trucks, while some dealers that never sold medium before are giving it a shot.  There are also a number of dealerships that have both Chevy and GMC franchises.

[david wild]

Came upon this late I Hate GM, took a lot of bail out money declared bankruptcy  and screwed the taxpayer all the while helping the union, SCREW GM.

[TS7]

Roadway my point is GM does not have a real commercial truck division anymore. GMC is not a commercial truck brand anymore.

[RoadwayR]

23 hours ago, david wild said:

Came upon this late I Hate GM, took a lot of bail out money declared bankruptcy  and screwed the taxpayer all the while helping the union, SCREW GM.

I think the taxpayers came out fine just in income tax revenue from all the 1,000's of GM employees, suppliers, and dealers that didn't lose their jobs.  The ones that got screwed were the GM stock and bond holders.  True GM didn't react to the banking crisis fast enough like Ford did, but if you wnat to blame someone start with Barney Frank and Lehman Bros. and go from there.

Edited June 8, 2020 by RoadwayR

[kscarbel2]

GM reverses plan to cut shift at pickup plant

Hannah Lutz, Automotive News  /  July 28, 2020

General Motors has reversed its plan to temporarily cut the third shift at its midsize pickup plant in Wentzville, Missouri, possibly opting to transfer laid-off workers from other states to the plant instead.

GM confirmed plans to cut the third shift on July 11 because of worker absenteeism as cases of COVID-19 in Missouri increased.

GM told Automotive News at the time that there was enough demand for three shifts. The automaker was working on a staffing plan to resume a three-shift schedule as soon as possible.

More than two weeks later, cases of the coronavirus in Missouri continue to climb, reaching 37,375 as of July 26, according to Johns Hopkins.

"Transfers from other GM locations along with the strategic use of temporary employees could be part of the Wentzville staff plan," spokesman Dan Flores told Automotive News on Tuesday.

CNBC on Thursday reported GM's decision to keep the third shift.

The decision to lay off about 1,250 workers was purely driven by high absenteeism and not related to low demand for the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon that are built at the plant, GM said earlier this month.

In addition to the Colorado and Canyon, the Wentzville plant, which employs 4,100 salaried and hourly workers, builds the Chevy Express and GMC Savana full-size commercial vans.

Lansing cases

GM also confirmed cases of the virus among employees at two Michigan plants last week but said the positive cases did not affect production.

One worker tested positive at GM's Lansing Delta Township assembly plant, after being exposed outside of work. Based on contact tracing, no one else in the plant will have to quarantine, said Flores. At GM's nearby Lansing Grand River plant, two workers tested positive after being exposed to the virus outside of work. As of Friday afternoon, GM was in the process of contact tracing at the plant.