DETROIT (AP) - General Motors is adding 750 workers to a Missouri factory in anticipation of high demand for two new small pickup trucks.
GM wants to add a third shift to its plant in Wentzville near St. Louis by the end of March. The factory now employs 2,600 people who make the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups as well as full-sized vans.
Alan Batey, GM's North America president, says dealers already have ordered 30,000 pickups and 97,000 people have configured and built them on a GM website. Both are signs of strong demand.
GM is building the trucks and plans to start shipping them to dealers soon. Small pickups have declined in popularity, but Batey is confident people will buy the GM models for their hauling ability, gas mileage and price.
"It's really a lot of security – for Wentzville, St. Charles County, and for all of the employees that work out there," said Mike Bullock, the Bargaining Chairman for UAW Local 2250, who represents the auto workers. "It's job security that there's an acceptance of the new product that were getting ready to build and the demand, expected to be very high on it."
Bullock said they hope to bring on the new employees by the first quarter of 2015.
"It is a very significant thing for General Motors to put on three shifts in a plant," added Wentzville GM plant manager Nancy Laubenthal. "It's the first time for Wentzville. I think really since its beginning, this is the brightest time we've had in Wentzville's [GM plant] history."
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NewsChannel 5's Jennifer Meckles contributed to this report.
