No Fanfare to Accompany GM U.S. Production Changes

DETROIT – Mark Reuss, president of General Motors North America, says the auto maker continues to make monthly production tweaks to balance output with demand, but he stops short of publicly declaring any major ramp-up lies ahead.

“We are going to meet supply with demand,” he tells WardsAuto on the sidelines of GM’s annual meeting here today.

Last month, GM raised its outlook for U.S. sales by 500,000 units to between 14.0 million and 14.5 million.

Reuss reiterates remarks by GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson that production changes will not come with public announcements.

Detroit rivals Ford and Chrysler have announced plans to keep U.S. plants running during the traditional summer shutdown next month in the U.S., an annual 2-week break the industry has begun moving away from in recent years as new-product introductions occur throughout the year now.

“I don’t know what the shutdown is anymore,” Reuss says. “We’ll shut plants where we need to for people or equipment or demand and bring them back up when we need to. We’re not overproducing, that’s the big thing.”

Auto makers are set to hike North American production 15% in the third quarter to 3.8 million units, according to a WardsAuto forecast. Chrysler’s plan is the most aggressive, with a 23.9% hike, compared with year-ago, followed by Ford at 5.5% and GM at 2.2%.

However, Reuss says news will emerge in the “next couple of weeks” about GM’s plan for retooling its U.S. fullsize-truck assembly plants for the next-generation model. The auto maker must take down facilities in Flint, MI; Fort Wayne, IN; and Arlington, TX, to make updates without falling short of inventories of existing models.

GM’s fullsize-truck inventories, including SUVs, finished May at 105 days’ supply, WardsAuto data shows. The industry typically prefers 60 days, although trucks tend to run higher because of the many body styles auto makers must make available.

Reuss says he remains confident about the state of the new-vehicle sales market, despite a sideways stock market and continued economic problems in Europe.

“We’re doing this in a way that is very agile,” he says of the auto maker’s capacity-utilization plan. “Our breakeven point has not changed since bankruptcy.”

GM exited its 2009 bankruptcy with a breakeven point of 10.5 million units annually. Prior to its restructuring, the auto maker had trouble booking profit in a U.S. market selling upwards of 17 million.

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