Chip Shortage Update: GM Extends Widespread Production Stoppage

GM said that most assembly plants in North America will idle starting Monday for two weeks, with the exceptions being the Arlington, Texas, assembly plant where it makes its full-size SUVs; Flint, Mich., where it produces heavy-duty pickups; Bowling Green, Ky., where it makes its Corvette; and a portion of its Lansing, Mich., plant where it assembles some Chevy Camaro and Cadillac Blackwing cars.

“These most recent scheduling adjustments are being driven by the continued parts shortages caused by semiconductor supply constraints from international markets experiencing COVID 19-related restrictions,” the Detroit-based automaker said. “During the downtime, we will repair and ship unfinished vehicles from many impacted plants, including Fort Wayne and Silao, to dealers to help meet the strong customer demand for our products.”

GM’s assembly plants in Fort Wayne, Ind., and Silao, Mexico, will take downtime starting Sept. 6, with regular production expected to resume the week of Sept. 13. Fort Wayne and Silao both build the Chevy Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 pickup.

The automaker’s Wentzville, Mo., plant that assembles the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups, as well as the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans, will take a two-week downtime starting Sept. 6.

CAMI Assembly in Ingersoll, Ontario, and San Luis Potosi Assembly in Mexico will take two additional weeks of downtime through the week of Sept. 27. Both have been idle since July 19. CAMI builds the Chevrolet Equinox and SLP builds the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain. Production of the highly profitable Chevrolet Equinox has been down since Aug. 16, the company said.

GM’s assembly plant in Lansing/Delta Township, Mich., has extended its downtime an additional two weeks. The plant’s original two-week stoppage will now run for at least 41 days. Production is expected to resume on Sept. 20. The facility, which makes the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave SUVs, has been idle since Monday, July 19.

The automaker’s assembly plants in Spring Hill, Tenn., and its Ramos assembly plant in Mexico will both take additional outages beginning Monday, Sept. 6, disrupting the production of the Cadillac XT5, Cadillac XT6, GMC Acadia and the Chevrolet Blazer until Sept. 20. Spring Hill Assembly has been idle since Aug. 9.

Ramos will take an additional two-week outage for its Chevy Blazer production that will run through Sept. 19. Additionally, the Chevrolet Equinox production that has been down since the week of Aug. 16 should resume the week of Oct. 4.

“Although the situation remains complex and very fluid,” the automaker said, “we remain confident in our team’s ability to continue finding creative solutions to minimize the impact on our highest-demand and capacity-constrained vehicles.”

By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com