General Motors Corp. told dealers Monday it plans to raise prices on 2009 models by an average of 3.5 percent despite a tough market that is forcing the automaker to cut production and discount its 2008 models.

Company officials said in conference calls to dealers that the increases will allow GM to recover only part of the rising cost of steel and other commodities and the cost of safety and other features on the new models. The increases will amount to about $1,000 per vehicle.

GM already had increased the prices of its 2008 model year vehicles twice because of rising commodity costs, spokesman John McDonald said. The move comes a little more than a week after Chrysler LLC announced a 2 percent increase in the price of its remaining 2008 vehicles.

GM also said Monday it will run a sale June 24-30 to help clear out high inventories of 2008 pickups, sport utility vehicles and larger cars. The sale includes zero percent financing for up to 72 months.

U.S. auto sales were down 8 percent through May due to the weak economy, low consumer confidence and high gas prices, but sales of trucks and SUVs have fallen even more sharply. Sales of the Chevrolet Silverado large pickup were down 26 percent through May, while sales of the Chevrolet Tahoe large SUV fell 30 percent.

Large cars also haven't been immune to a sales slide. Sales of GM's Buick Lucerne sedan, which is among the cars that are part of the incentive program, were down 26 percent through May.

In response, GM said Monday it will further cut production of trucks and SUVs through the end of this year. Spokesman Chris Lee says GM will cut shifts, reduce assembly line speeds and temporarily idle seven factories because of declining consumer demand for the truck-based vehicles.

The biggest cut will take place at the company's Janesville, Wis., factory that makes large SUVs. It will be idled the weeks of July 14 and 21, plus it will be shut down another 10 weeks through the end of the year.

Lee said Monday the other affected plants are in Oshawa, Ontario; Silao, Mexico; Arlington, Texas; Moraine, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Shreveport, La.

"The bottom line is with this shift of consumer demand going from trucks and SUVs to cars and crossovers, we're going to need to balance our production to meet the shift in demand," Lee said.

He could not say how many fewer vehicles the company will produce because of the cuts, saying the number is fluid.

Also to handle the market shift, GM announced that it will add Saturday production at its Kansas City, Kan., and Delta Township, Mich., factories. The Kansas City plant makes the hot-selling Chevrolet Malibu and Delta Township makes the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook crossover vehicles. The company already has plans to add a third shift in Lordstown, Ohio, and Orion Township, Mich., to increase car production.

In addition, the line speed will be increased at Lordstown and additional overtime will be authorized for Kansas City, Lee said.

The Oshawa pickup factory will be closed for a week after the normal two-week July shutdown for the model year changeover. In addition, GM will close it for seven more weeks between July and the end of the year, Lee said.

The Arlington SUV factory will be shut down two additional weeks in July after the shutdown and another three weeks before the end of the year, Lee said.

In Fort Wayne, the pickup plant originally was to operate during the second week of the July shutdown, but now it will be closed that week as well. It also will see two additional down weeks through the end of the year.

The Silao full-size pickup plant will be idled the week of July 14, plus two more weeks through the end of the year, while GM's Shreveport midsize truck plant will go down the week of July 14.

The Moraine plant near Dayton, which makes midsize SUVs, will lose a shift the week of July 14 as it adjusts to the large number of workers who took early retirement and buyout packages, Lee said.

Other pickup and SUV plants will see line speed and overtime reductions, Lee said.

Workers who are furloughed because of the production cuts will get unemployment benefits and supplemental pay from the company that equals about 95 percent of their take-home pay, the company says.

The move comes on top of GM's announcement earlier this month that it will close four North American plants by 2010 because of poor truck and SUV sales, costing 8,350 jobs.

Jeff Crippen, owner of Crippen Buick-Pontiac-GMC in suburban Lansing, said the dual strategies of raising incentives and cutting production are far better than past years when GM kept making vehicles even when the demand wasn't there.

"Doing both of those together will ultimately get the inventory in line by increasing the sales and decreasing the additional vehicles coming to the marketplace," he said.

GM shares fell 88 cents, or 6.4 percent to close at $12.91 Monday after hitting a 52-week low of $12.75 during the session.

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