The global chip shortage plaguing the auto industry during the COVID-19 pandemic has struck again.
General Motors Co., announced Thursday it was shutting down truck production again, and most of its North American plants are shutting down for a couple of weeks.
The auto industry has been fighting the chip shortage all year, and its effects are likely to continue into next year.
“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,” GM spokesman Dan Flores said in a statement.
Here’s how the latest events are expected to affect GM production at various plants:
- Fort Wayne Assembly (Indiana) and Silao Assembly (Mexico) will take downtime the week of 9/6. GM anticipates regular production will resume the week of Sept. 13. GM will use the time to complete unfinished vehicles at Fort Wayne and Silao and ship those units to dealers to help meet the strong customer demand for their products.
- Wentzville Assembly (Missouri) will take downtime for the weeks of Sept. 6 and Sept. 13. Production of both midsize truck and full-size van lines is expected to be down both weeks. Wentzville builds the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups and the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans.
- CAMI Assembly (Canada) and San Luis Potosi Assembly (Mexico) will take two additional weeks of downtime through the week of Sept. 27. Production of the Chevrolet Equinox has been down since Aug. 16. CAMI builds the Chevrolet Equinox and SLP builds the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain.
- Lansing Delta Township Assembly (Michigan) will add an additional two weeks of downtime the weeks of Sept. 6 and Sept. 13. GM expects Lansing Delta Township to resume production the week of Sept. 20. Lansing Delta Township builds the Chevrolet Traverse and the Buick Enclave.
- Spring Hill Assembly (Tennessee) will add an additional two weeks of downtime for the weeks of Sept. 6 and Sept. 13. Officials expect Spring Hill to resume production the week of Sept. 20. Spring Hill builds the GMC Acadia, Cadillac XT5 and Cadillac XT6.
- Ramos Assembly (Mexico) will take two additional weeks of downtime for Blazer production through the week of Sept. 13. In addition, Equinox production will be down through the week of Sept. 27. Production of the Chevrolet Equinox has been down since Aug. 16.
“During the downtime, we will repair and ship unfinished vehicles from many impacted plants … to dealers to help meet the strong customer demand for our products,” Flores said. “Although the situation remains complex and very fluid, 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.”
