Report: GM adding extra shift at Lordstown to meet expected Cruze demand *UPDATE

Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Plants/Manufacturing, Chevrolet, GM

2011 Chevrolet Cruze – Click above for high-res image gallery

It looks like General Motors is going to announce that Lordstown will be getting a third shift. Lordstown, Ohio is the plant where GM is going to be building its new compact Chevrolet Cruze, and apparently they think the demand is going to be pretty high for this handsome little sedan.

If you recall, Lordstown was supposed to be a round-the-clock plant when then-GM CEO Rick Wagoner announced a third shift and $350 million investment in the plant. That was way back In August 2008, though, before the carpocolypse. By September, the industry and whole country found themselves in a free-fall. By January 2009, two shifts were eliminated at Lordstwown, idling some 2,800 workers. Last April GM idled the whole plant for three weeks to cut supply and lower operating costs.

The addition of a third shift should bring a number of union employees back to work building the all-important new Cruze, wit the highly efficient, 40-mile-per-gallon Cruze arriving in dealerships this fall.

UPDATE: General Motors made the extra shift at its Lordstown, OH plant official today saying it will add 1,200 new jobs. Follow the jump for GM’s official press release.

Gallery: LA 2009: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze