General Motors on Tuesday said its three North American full-size pickup truck assembly plants would be halted by next week as the global chip shortage continue.
The idling of the plants in Flint, Michigan; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Silao, Mexico, comes a week after the plants restarted production after a previous shutdown related to the chip shortage.
The chip shortage, which has hit automakers worldwide, emerges from a confluence of factors as automakers, which closed plants for two months during the coronavirus pandemic last year, rival against the sprawling consumer electronics industry for chip supplies. A factory fire suffered by Japanese chipmaker Renesas this year is also cited as a reason behind the chip shortage.
“The global semiconductor shortage remains complex and very fluid,” the automaker said.
“The recent scheduling adjustments have been driven by temporary parts shortages led by semiconductor supply constraints from international markets experiencing COVID-19-related restrictions,” the statement included.
“This period will provide us with the opportunity to complete unfinished vehicles at the impacted assembly plants and ship those units to dealers.”
The automaker also said its plants in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, will restart production on Monday after being idled since July 19.
The automaker’s Lansing Delta Township plant in Michigan will increase its downtime next week. It remains idled since July 19.
The automaker also increased downtime at its San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and Ingersoll, Canada, plants through the weeks of August 23 and August 30. They had been set to restart production on August 23, and have been down since July 19.
