Ford details new production cuts over worldwide chip shortage

Ford Motor on Wednesday provided details of another series of plant shutdowns because of the global semiconductor chip shortage, with five facilities in the United States and one facility in Turkey affected.

The automaker did not outline how many vehicles are set to be lost in the production due to these shutdowns, and reiterated its aim to provide an update on the financial impact of the chip shortage with its quarterly earnings on April 28, suggesting the hit could be bigger than initially forecast.

The automaker said in March it expected the semiconductor shortage to cost between $1 billion and $2.5 billion. While the automaker has prioritized chips for its highest profit automobiles, it has been forced at times to halt the production of its top-selling F-150 full-size pickup, and it has delayed some of those trucks for final assembly as they don’t have enough chips right now.

The automaker this month announced production cuts during the weeks of April 19 and 26 at plants located in Chicago, Flat Rock, Michigan, and Kansas City, as well as implementing a decreased schedule at its Ohio Assembly Plant, the recent in a string of chip-related curtailments.

It also set downtime for its Louisville, Kentucky, truck plant the weeks of April 26 and May 3, and its van plant located in Golcuk, Turkey, from May 8 to May 31. However, the automaker hopes to offset some of the losses in Turkey by pulling forward downtime scheduled later in 2021.