Nearly all of GM’s U.S. production will be online next week.
Automakers have been juggling production in light of the ongoing semiconductor shortage for months, but Automotive News reports a positive shift for General Motors’ production. After weeks and even months offline, the automaker will resume production at its two plants in Lansing, Michigan next week. The news comes as third-quarter sales reports are around the corner, and may help revive dealer inventories — many of whom face sparse lots and frustrated customers.
Lansing Grand River Assembly has idled its Cadillac CT4 and CT5 production since May 10. It also builds the Chevy Camaro, though that line has only been down since September 13 due to the chip shortage. GM announced it is rebooting production a week ahead of schedule on Monday, October 3. Lansing Delta Assembly will also restart production next week as planned, after being idle since July 19. The Lansing Delta plant builds the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse.
Other plants like Fort Wayne Assembly in Indiana, which builds GM’s light-duty trucks, resumed production in mid-September. Bowling Green, Kentucky’s Corvette plant and Arlington, Texas’ full-size SUV lines have continued to run, emphasizing GM’s chip allocation toward higher-demand models.
Despite GM’s U.S. production ramping back up in most areas, some plants will continue to see some downtime. Fairfax Assembly in Kansas City, Kansas will only run its Cadillac XT4 line. Chevy Malibu production will stay idle through the end of October. Orion Assembly in Michigan will also reportedly stay offline, as a result of the ongoing battery recall on the Chevy Bolt.
GM’s Mexican and Canadian plants will be down through October 15
Outside the United States, General Motors will keep its production offline for two more weeks. Chevy Blazer and Equinox production at Ramos Arizpe, Mexico will be affected, where both lines have been idled since August. San Luis Potosi, Mexico will continue its pause building the Equinox and GMC Terrain. Finally, GM’s CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario (also building the Equinox) will be down through October 15. CAMI has been offline since mid-July.
Overall, current industry forecasts estimate the global auto industry will lose at between 8 and 9 million vehicles from production because of the semiconductor crisis. Nearly one-third of that lost production is in North America, resulting from automakers like GM, Ford and many other companies having to scale back production due to supply chain issues.
