Photo: Chevrolet
Wentzville Assembly in Missouri is the plant responsible for the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size pickups. According to a memo, GM will stop making them from March 29th to April 5th due to the chip shortage that has taken its toll on the smartphone industry as well.
According to the Detroit Free Press, “more than 20,000 pickups are in a holding area at Wentzville.” These trucks are built but can’t be shipped because the chips are in short supply. Be that as it may, GM decided to move forward the plant’s annual shutdown.
Instead of June, the Detroit-based automaker has rescheduled the launch construction downtime to May 24th through July 19th. General Motors makes this effort to stockpile enough parts for the Colorado and Canyon to meet customer demand throughout the remainder of the year.
“General Motors continues to leverage every available semiconductor to build and ship our most popular and in-demand products, including full-size trucks and SUVs for our customers," said spokesperson David Barnas. "We continue to work closely with our supply base to find solutions for our suppliers’ semiconductor requirements and to mitigate impact on GM."
In addition to Wentzville, the biggest of the Big Three in Detroit has shut down a few other plants since February. These include Fairfax, where the Chevrolet Malibu and Cadillac XT4 are made, CAMI Assembly (Chevrolet Equinox), San Luis Potosi (Chevrolet Equinox, Trax, and GMC Terrain), and Lansing Grand River (Cadillac CT4, CT5, and the Chevrolet Camaro).
Moving forward, the Gravatai factory in Brazil (Chevrolet Onix) will take downtime in April and May. As if that wasn’t bad enough for General Motors, the Bupyeong 2 factory (Chevrolet Trax, Malibu, and Buick Encore) in South Korea is currently operating at half its normal capacity.
All told, production disruptions from the chip shortage could cost GM up to $2 billion in lost earnings. To put that figure into perspective, the automaker’s EBIT-adjusted income for the 2020 calendar year is $9.7 billion.
Instead of June, the Detroit-based automaker has rescheduled the launch construction downtime to May 24th through July 19th. General Motors makes this effort to stockpile enough parts for the Colorado and Canyon to meet customer demand throughout the remainder of the year.
“General Motors continues to leverage every available semiconductor to build and ship our most popular and in-demand products, including full-size trucks and SUVs for our customers," said spokesperson David Barnas. "We continue to work closely with our supply base to find solutions for our suppliers’ semiconductor requirements and to mitigate impact on GM."
In addition to Wentzville, the biggest of the Big Three in Detroit has shut down a few other plants since February. These include Fairfax, where the Chevrolet Malibu and Cadillac XT4 are made, CAMI Assembly (Chevrolet Equinox), San Luis Potosi (Chevrolet Equinox, Trax, and GMC Terrain), and Lansing Grand River (Cadillac CT4, CT5, and the Chevrolet Camaro).
Moving forward, the Gravatai factory in Brazil (Chevrolet Onix) will take downtime in April and May. As if that wasn’t bad enough for General Motors, the Bupyeong 2 factory (Chevrolet Trax, Malibu, and Buick Encore) in South Korea is currently operating at half its normal capacity.
All told, production disruptions from the chip shortage could cost GM up to $2 billion in lost earnings. To put that figure into perspective, the automaker’s EBIT-adjusted income for the 2020 calendar year is $9.7 billion.
Google News