CHICAGO, July 19 (Xinhua)-- General Motors Co. already idles production of its Orion Assembly plant in Michigan this week to cut stock of the slow-selling subcompact Chevrolet Sonic, local media Detroit news reported Wednesday.
Chevrolet Sonic shares the plant with its electric vehicle Chevy Bolt. The company reports that Sonic sales have gone down 37 percent this year.
GM spokesman Jim Cain said the Sonic supply cut came as its sales reached 6,550 in the U.S. last month, better than the sales pace in recent months but still down year-over-year.
The automaker already has cut shifts at four assembly plants since the beginning of the year, and announced it will cut the third shift at is Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City in September. The Fairfax plant builds the Chevrolet Malibu sedan.
The efforts to cut supply to match demand take place as car and sedan sales are in decline across the industry. GM is working to reduce its inventory of cars that analysts say was at 127 days at the end of June; that' s about double the 60- to 70-day supply that analysts consider optimal.
