SPRING HILL (AP) — General Motors said Tuesday that it plans to hire 650 people at its Tennessee plant ahead of the introduction a third shift to boost production of the Cadillac XT5 and GMC Acadia.

The company said the new overnight shift is expected to begin in January and that the new positions will be filled through the end of the year.

Vehicle production was halted at the facility for about two weeks this spring because of supply chain interruptions caused by earthquakes in Japan.

The Cadillac XT5, a newly redesigned SUV, is the brand's best-selling vehicle with just under 22,000 sold through September. While that's slightly below the sales of the model it replaced, the Cadillac SRX, at this time last year, the new version didn't go on sale until April.

General Motors announced a $790 million investment at the facility in April to build a new high-efficiency engine and upgrade vehicle production, creating nearly 800 jobs. The plant located about 30 miles south of Nashville employs about 3,300 hourly and salaried employees.

The Spring Hill plant turned out more than 3.7 million Saturn cars between 1990 and 2007 before undergoing an overhaul and turning to other GM products. Assembly was idled during the Great Recession, but the company has poured more than $2 billion into the facility since 2010.