General Motors Corp. (GM) is to halve shifts at its Elizabeth assembly plant in Adelaide, GM Holden Chairman and Managing Director Mark Reuss said Friday.

"We are going to move from a two shift set of production here at Elizabeth to a two crew single shift with no redundancies or retrenchments," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Reuss said workers had been advised of the changes, made in response to the global financial crisis that he said had seen decreases in export markets of up to 80% for some products.

Despite the slowdown, GM Holden has managed to maintain low inventory levels and will be continuing to produce V8 vehicles, Reuss said.

-By Alex Wilson, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2094; alex.wilson@dowjones.com