GM says NorthAm production will improve

US automaker General Motors (GM) expects its North American production to outperform 2021 levels.

The automaker said improved semiconductor chip supplies helped it support higher production in the first quarter.

"Our ability to meet pent-up demand improved dramatically thanks to a tremendous effort by our supply chain and manufacturing teams to keep our plants operating at close to normal levels," said Steve Carlisle, president of GM North America. "Supply chain disruptions are not fully behind us, but we expect to continue outperforming 2021 production levels, especially in the second half of the year."

Yesterday GM said it would cut production at its Lansing Grand River sedan plant in Michigan next week because of a non-semiconductor parts shortage.

GM's North American inventory levels ended the first quarter at 274,000 vehicles, up from 129,000 vehicles in the same period of 2021 and an increase from the 200,000 vehicles in inventory at the end of the fourth quarter.

North American automakers have dealt with semiconductor and other parts shortages for more than a year as a result of global economic and supply disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic. Supply issues cut the production of more than 2mn vehicles in North America in 2021, according to data from research firm AutoForecast Solutions.

The company's forecast for North American production in 2022 has already been cut by 120,000 vehicles since the beginning of the year, down to 15.15mn units. That would be 2mn vehicles more than the estimated 13.14mn produced in the region in 2021.

By Rye Druzin