General Motors (GM) plans to bring multiple North American and global auto plants back online after weeks of downtime driven by a lack of semiconductors.
Production of the Chevrolet Camaro at GM's Lansing Grand River plant in Michigan will restart on 21 June, two weeks earlier than expected, while production of the Cadillac CT4 and CT5 sedans at the facility will continue to be idled through 4 July.
GM will restart its small SUV plants in Ramos and San Luis Potosi, Mexico, on 31 May. Ramos had been down since 3 May and San Luis Potosi since 17 May.
GM is bringing its CAMI small SUV assembly plant in Ontario back online on 14 June, three weeks earlier than expected, before taking it down on 2 July for its planned two-week summer shutdown. The plant has been idled since 8 February.
In South Korea, GM's Bupyeong 1 plant, which produces the Chevrolet Trailblazer and Buick Encore GX SUVs for the US, will return to full production on 31 May. The plant had been operating at reduced rates since 26 April.
Global semiconductor supply issues have driven many automakers to curtail production in North America and across the world, leveraging the chips for higher-margin vehicles like trucks and full-size SUVs.
Estimated lost vehicle production increased to 700,000 vehicles this week from approximately 600,000 vehicles the week before, according to AutoForecast Solutions. The majority of the losses arose from a lack of semiconductors, but petrochemical material shortages have also cut North American auto production.
Nissan will curtail production of its midsize and full-size pickup trucks and sedans at its Canton, Mississippi, plant for most of June. Production of the Altima sedan will be suspended from 7-27 June. The plant has been producing at reduced rates through all of May and eight days in April.
Production at Nissan's Smyrna, Tennessee, plant that builds SUVs and sedans will return to full rates in June. The plant was down for all of May.
Kia's auto plant in Georgia will take production offline on 27-28 May because of a lack of semiconductors.
