General Motors to idle 3 truck plants for 21 weeks

According to Khabarkhodro, General Motors will idle its Fort Wayne, Flint, Mich., and Arlington, Texas factories for updates and renovation.

GM’s Fort Wayne assembly plant in Roanoke, Indiana, is scheduled to suspend production for nine weeks from January to October, Flint, Mich., factory for seven weeks from June to November, while Arlington, Texas, plant will shut down its entire production for five weeks from June to December.

The Detroit based automaker said it boosted profit this year by building supply of Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks, two of its most profitable models.

GM is idling pickup factories for updates and renovations so that they’re able to assemble the automaker’s next-generation trucks.

The company is planning to invest $328 million in Flint, Mich., $275 million in Ft. Wayne and $331 million in Arlington, creating at least 100 additional jobs at each factory.

If the retooling is done through 2012, production would begin in 2013. News media reports have said the new trucks would go on sale as 2014 models.

Capacity in 2012 at GM’s U.S. full-size pickup plants will be about 640,000 units, according to an Aug. 4 company presentation.