Ford, GM extend auto plant outages

Semiconductor shortages continued to cut into North American automotive production, with light trucks taking many of the hits.

Steel and aluminum-intensive full-size pickup trucks and SUVs have been among the casualties as automakers attempt to stem the global impact of a lack of semiconductors.

AutoForecast Solutions estimated that the production of 883,000 vehicles in North America will be impacted in some way by the semiconductor supply issues, with 16pc of those being pickups and 3pc being SUVs. Compact utility vehicles (CUVs) make up the largest group, 46pc, while passenger cars make up 30pc. The remainder was vans.

The impacted pickup truck production should be recoverable, according to AutoForecast Solutions.

Ford Motor extended by two weeks outages at its Chicago, Illinois; Flat Rock, Michigan; and Kansas City, Missouri, assembly plants. Those plants, which had been set to resume production on 16 May, will now be closed until at least 30 May.

The Chicago facility builds the Explorer SUV, Police Interceptor Utility and Lincoln Aviator SUVs, while the Kansas City plant builds Ford's top selling and steel- and aluminum-intensive, F-150 full-size pickup truck and Transit van. The Flat Rock plant builds the Mustang and the Lincoln Continental sedan.

All told, Ford has cut production of its F-150 truck — produced at its Dearborn, Michigan, and Kansas City plants — by at least 66 days in 2021, with partial closures adding another 14 days of affected production.

The Kansas City plant will operate one shift on its Transit van line from 31 May through 13 June to produce E-Transit vans.

Ford's Michigan assembly plant west of Detroit, which produces the Ranger midsize pickup truck, will be idled for two weeks from 17 May through 30 May.

The Ohio assembly plant, which produces heavier duty pickup trucks, will extend its partial shutdown through 23 May, and then stop production from 24 May through 30 May.

In Mexico, Ford's Hermosillo sedan assembly plant, which was shut down on 3 May, will be down for two weeks through 16 May. The Kentucky truck plant will be down from 7-20 June to make plant modifications for the launch of the new model of Super Duty trucks.

General Motors (GM) extended its plant outages at its CAMI SUV assembly plant in Ontario through 4 July, while the shutdown at its Fairfax sedan assembly plant in Kansas was extended through 11 July. Both have been closed since 8 February.

GM's Lansing Grand River assembly plant, which produces the Chevrolet Camaro and Cadillac CT4 and CT5 sedans, will idle 10 May through 5 July, except to build limited numbers of the 2022 Cadillac Black Wing pre-production vehicles in June.

At the company's San Luis Potosi, Mexico, small SUV plant, production will stop from 17 May through 30 May.

GM's Ramos assembly in Mexico, which produces the Chevrolet Blazer and Equinox, will be closed from 3 May through 30 May.

Stellantis will stop production at its Windsor, Ontario, minivan assembly plant from 17 May through 23 May. The company is also keeping its Belvidere SUV plant in Illinois and Warren truck assembly plant in Michigan closed through the end of May.

Toyota reported unspecified production disruptions to all of its plants in Canada and the US, which began last month.

Automaker Honda continues to report production issues at its North American plants.

By Rye Druzin