GM TO BOOST PRODUCTION, REINSTATE 1,350 JOBS

       General Motors on Tuesday said it would boost production to meet surging demand for fuel-efficient vehicles and recall 1,350 employees to assembly lines.
       Five weeks after emerging from bankruptcy protection, GM said that it would increase production at several North America assembly plants, by adding shifts, overtime and cancelling scheduled plant shutdowns.
       The auto-maker said it would add about 60,000 vehicles in the third and mainly the fourth quarter production forecast, "ensuring a wide selection of high-quality, fuel-efficient cars, crossovers and trucks for customers".
       Production shifts will be added to it splants in Lordstown, Ohio, and at CAMI Automotive, a joint venture with Suzuki Motor headquartered in Ontario, Canada.
       The additional shifts wil increase the number of employees represented by the United Auto Workers and Canadian Auto Workers unions.
       "This will bring approximately 1,350 UAW and CAW employees back to the assembly lines," said GM, the former world leader in auto manufacturing that is now 60-per-cent owned by the US government.
       GM said that the government's popular "cash-for-clunkers" programme of sales incentives had generated substantial demand in July and August for a broad range of its fuel-efficient vehicles.
       The "cash-for-clunkers" programme pays consumers up to US$4,500 (Bt153,240) to trade in a gas-guzzler for a "greener" vhicle.
       GM, which emerged from bankruptcy protection on July 10, has been downsizing its operations over the past four years as it struggles to cope with bleeding balance sheets and a loss of market share to Asian rivals.