Hyundai's production plant in Montgomery, Alabama, will have 11 days cut off from its remaining schedule for 2008. Due to decreasing demand of the Santa Fe crossover SUV and the Sonata passenger car, the Alabama plant will switch to a four-day work week, beginning this Friday. According to plant spokesman Robert Burns, "We're trying to balance our production with consumer demand."
Plant workers will be given the choice of either taking the 11 days as vacation time or as personal leave days on all Fridays, except for December 5, and some Mondays. The off-days are to begin October 25 and will run through December. Three days off related to Thanksgiving and Christmas have been added to the plant's previously scheduled downtime.
Employees at Hyundai's engine plants in Alabama will also have the same days off. The schedule reduction would not be the first time Hyundai has had to cut time. Hyundai had cut out three days from the fourth quarter of 2007 due to slow Sonata sales. Currently, Santa Fe sales are down 35%, with total Hyundai sales in the United States falling 22.3% for the month of September.
Source: Ward's Auto