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GM laying off 500 workers to slow Chevy Sonic production

Due to slow sales of the Chevrolet Sonic and Buick Verano, General Motors is cutting a shift at the Orion Township plant that builds the pair. The move lays off about 500 workers, but most of them are expected to get offers to transfer to other factories, Automotive News reports. The move came just a day after GM announced adding 1,200 employees to the Detroit-Hamtramck plant. GM has been trying all year at the Orion Township factory to align production of the Sonic and Verano with their demand. The automaker first attempted idling the plant several times and eventually resorted to laying off about 100 workers. It also reduced the production rate there. With the huge rise in popularity of crossovers, demand for the plant's small cars is on the downturn. According to Automotive News, there's currently a 116-day supply of Sonics and 100 days of Veranos to sell. Delivers tell a similar tale because the Chevy is off 35.2 percent from January to September, and the Buick does little better with a 27.2 percent drop from the same period last year. While the situation at Orion Township might look rough now, big things are on the horizon. Soon, the new Chevy Bolt electric vehicle will be built there when it hits the market around 2017. Plus, the plant will also get a $245-million upgrade and 300 new jobs for another, unannounced vehicle.

Hot Wheels' Twitter-enabled vending machine coughs up free Camaro diecasts

There are still plenty of companies that haven't gotten the whole social media thing down pat yet, but Hot Wheels isn't one of them. During the recent Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto, Hot Wheels created a lot of buzz for itself by using a vending machine filled with Chevrolet Camaro models, but instead of money to get the cars, show attendees just had to use Twitter.
To get the free car, people were asked to send a tweet to Hot Wheels Canada saying what they liked about the new Hot Wheels Edition Camaro, and including the #ChevyCIAS hashtag. This seemed to be a popular marketing tool, too, as AdWeek reports that the @HotWheelsCanada account more than tripled in followers during the course of the 10-day show. Looking ahead, this could open up even more innovative marketing possibilities using social media.
Check out the video posted below to watch how it works, and while the auto show has ended and the free-car giveaway has too, we're almost certain that some of the 1,500 freebies will make their way onto eBay.

Autoblog Podcast #384

Episode #384 of the Autoblog podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Steven Ewing and Chris Paukert talk about rumors that the Subaru WRX Concept styling may influence the next production model, the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, and Chris' time with the 2015 Lincoln MKC. We start with what's in the garage and finish up with some of your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Check out the new rundown below with times for topics, and you can follow along down below with our Q&A. Thanks for listening! Autoblog Podcast #384: Topics: Long-term 2015 Subaru WRX introduction Subaru WRX Concept styling may see production 2015 Lincoln MKC 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 In the Autoblog Garage: 2014 Mercedes-Benz E550 Cabriolet 2014 Volkswagen Jetta SEL 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Hosts: Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, Chris Paukert Runtime: 01:34:21 Rundown: Intro and Garage - 00:00 Long-term WRX intro - 27:20 WRX Concept - 37:10 Lincoln MKC - 47:49 Corvette Z06 - 01:07:18 Q&A - 01:16:18 Get the podcast: [UStream] Listen live on Mondays at 10 PM Eastern at UStream [iTunes] Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes [RSS] Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Feedback: Email: Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes Podcasts Rumormill Chevrolet Lincoln Mercedes-Benz Subaru subaru wrx concept