General Motors expects the chip shortage to shave at least $2 billion off its profits this year.
Automakers across the industry are juggling with the ongoing global chip shortage, and General Motors announced Thursday it would continue to cut production at some of its North American factories. Some plants have already been down for several weeks, while others will go offline starting next week, April 12.
GM’s Lansing Grand River Assembly, which builds the Chevy Camaro and Cadillac CT4 and CT5 has been out of action since March 15. Now, that plant will extend its downtime through April 26. The Spring Hill, Tennessee plant that builds the Cadillac XT5, XT6 and GMC Acadia will take two weeks of downtime through April 23. The company’s Fairfax Assembly in Kansas City (Chevy Malibu and Cadillac XT4) is also down through May 10, while the Lansing Delta plant in Michigan (Chevy Traverse and Buick Enclave) will take downtime the week of April 19.
The production cuts don’t just extend to U.S. plants, either. GM’s Ramos Arizpe plant will cancel Chevy Blazer production the week of April 19. Production of the more popular Equinox at that plant will not be affected, though. However, Equinox production at the CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario will cut production through at least May 10.
Prioritizing SUVs and trucks
As the chip shortage continues, GM has prioritized high-demand, high-margin vehicles including trucks and SUVs over cars and crossovers. The Wentzville, Missouri plant will restart Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon production Monday, while the company has not taken downtime or reduced shifts at its truck and SUV plants, including those in Flint, Michigan; Fort Wayne, Indiana and Arlington, Texas.
President Biden’s major infrastructure proposal detailed this week includes $50 billion for the American semiconductor industry to boost production and meet the overwhelming demand.
H/T to CNBC, who originally broke this story.
