As the global microchip shortage continues on, automakers have had to become creative with solutions and workarounds. General Motors has employed several strategies in recent months, including building vehicles without certain features and partially building vehicles while necessary parts are on their way. In a recent statement, the automaker confirmed that it is temporarily halting production at three of its plants.
Two plants will be idled completely. GM says that its Flint, Michigan, Silao Assembly Plant in Mexico, and the Fort Wayne Assembly facility in Indiana will shut down next week. The Indiana plant builds both the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500, and Silao builds the Silverado 1500 Chevrolet Cheyenne (a version of the Silverado), and GMC Sierra 1500.
A GM spokesperson confirmed that idling the plants is a result of parts shortages from the ongoing global chip shortages. GM expects the issue to be a short-term challenge, and notes that its priority is to minimize the impacts of the shortage on its most popular and most in-demand vehicles, which include full-size trucks and SUVs.
While the three facilities are currently expected to resume production in early August, this likely won’t be the last impacts of the semiconductor shortage that we see. Earlier this year, General Motors stopped including fuel-saving start/stop tech in some of its vehicles, and a later announcement stated that HD radio would not be available in some new vehicles.