General Motors Co. (GM) announced on Thursday that the company will be adding 1,200 jobs nearly doubling the amount of employees at the company’s Detroit assembly plant. The company also announced that a second shift will be added to the plant in early 2016.
The Detroit plant will have 2,800 workers once hiring is complete. Higher demand for the company’s five vehicles that are produced in the Detroit plant is the reasoning behind the hiring.
A spokesperson for the plant, Courtney Zemke, announced that 40 of the added employees will be salaried workers. The remaining workers will all be hourly workers.
Plant workers have long awaited the second shift which was announced in May 2011. Market conditions caused a delay in implementing a second shift at the plant, but current demand has allowed the company to proceed with its plans. The last time the Detroit–Hamtramck had a second shift was in 2007.
The new employees will also add the Cadillac CT6 luxury sedan to the production line. The sedan was expected to begin production in the fourth quarter of this year but has been pushed back to the first quarter of 2016. GM has also stated that another vehicle will be assembled at the plant, but no further details have been announced.
The Detroit plant currently assembles the Chevy Volt, Impala and Malibu. The Cadillac ELR is also produced at the plant.