GM Cuts Production at Michigan Plant

General Motors on Friday said it is cutting production of Chevrolet Sonics and Buick Veranos at an assembly plant about 30 miles northwest of Detroit. It will gradually lay off about 100 workers there, with the layoffs beginning in July and finishing by the end of the year.

Sales of the Sonic through May are down 28.5 percent from the first five months of 2014, while Verano sales have dropped 15.6 percent in the same period.

GM spokesman Christopher Bonelli declined to comment on the specifics of the production cut other than to say the company is “adjusting production capacity to better meet market demand.”

GM invested $545 million to retool the Orion Assembly plant so it could build the Verano and Sonic. Production of both models began in 2011. GM previously imported the Sonic from South Korea.

Local 5960 agreed to several changes in its local contract, including allowing GM to hire new workers earning a lower second-tier wage to fill as many as 40 percent of the hourly positions in the plant.