Fairfax GM to make new Buick. Union hopes it means more jobs after major layoffs
A new vehicle will join the line at General Motors’ Fairfax Plant in Kansas City, Kansas, union leadership announced Thursday.
Come 2028, the facility will begin production on a “next-generation” compact Buick model, and it won’t be the only car coming out of KCK. The Fairfax Plant produces the 2026 Chevrolet Bolt EV and will soon make way for production of the Chevrolet Equinox in 2027.
“UAW Local 31 is thrilled at the idea of having even more manufacturing work, careers, and families with the addition of a gas-powered Buick (2028),” said UAW Local 31 President Dontay Wilson in a news release.
And although the union is excited at the prospect of future production, it has a major hurdle to leap before they get to 2028.
The Fairfax Plant is still grappling with ongoing, indefinite layoffs that are affecting 900 workers, their families and the places they do business with. In October, GM moved hundreds of personnel who were temporarily laid off in 2024 on indefinite status.
This came during a lull in production as the facility retired production of the Cadillac TX4 and Chevy Malibu in preparation for a shift toward building the Chevy Bolt and the Equinox. The changeover brought operations to a halt in order to retool the plant.
That retooling was estimated to cost $390 million, and GM has previously said that layoffs would continue until production was back on track.
Affected employees make up a notable portion of the 2,275 people working in the KCK-based plant. And although they qualify for supplemental unemployment, that pay doesn’t equate to what someone would make if they were back on their regular schedule, Wilson told The Star.
“It’s tough to maintain your wallet when you’re making a third less than you’re normally getting,” he said in a Friday phone call.
Layoffs have also taken a mental toll on employees who are uncertain where their place is in an industry that’s constantly affected by changes in the economy — like tariffs, new policies around renewable energy, and pressure from the federal government to produce more vehicles domestically, Wilson said.
The union’s priorities are to try to get every single person back to work and to encourage GM to make 2027 production of the Equinox a two-shift operation. GM did not specifically respond to questions whether Buick production would affect ongoing layoffs, whether all staff will be called back to produce the new vehicle or how much longer layoffs will last. A GM spokesperson wrote that the company will share details on the product and timing details closer to the launch.
“General Motors will onshore production of the next-generation Buick compact SUV to Fairfax Assembly in Kansas City, beginning in 2028. This decision further strengthens GM’s domestic manufacturing footprint and supports U.S. jobs, building on $5.5 billion in new investments announced across our U.S. manufacturing sites in the last year,” wrote spokesperson Kevin Kelly in an email.
This story was originally published January 23, 2026 at 2:14 PM.
