GM to cut North American production, citing chip shortage

WASHINGTON: General Motors Co will reduce production at most North American assembly plants this month because of the ongoing semiconductor chip shortage, hitting its profitable truck and sport utility vehicles, it said on Thursday.

The largest U.S. automaker will halt production next week at its Fort Wayne plant in Indiana and its Silao plant in Mexico, both of which build pickup trucks. In total, GM is cutting production at eight North American assembly plants in September.

The industry wide chip shortage is causing massive auto production cuts around the globe. Earlier this week, Ford Motor Co said it will also cut truck production next week because of the chips shortage, while Toyota Motor Corp said last month it will slash global production for September by 40% from its previous plan.

GM will halt production at its Wentzville, Missouri plant for two weeks starting Sept. 6 that builds midsize trucks and full-size vans. GM will also halt production at the CAMI Assembly in Canada and San Luis Potosi Assembly in Mexico for two additional weeks. The company builds its Equinox SUV at both plants.

The automaker is also idling production for two additional weeks at its Lansing Delta Township plant that builds the Chevrolet Traverse and the Buick Enclave. GM's Spring Hill Tennessee plant will cut two weeks of production in September that builds the GMC Acadia, Cadillac XT5 and Cadillac XT6, while its Ramos, Mexico plant will take two additional weeks of downtime for Blazer production, while Equinox production will be down thru the week of Sept. 27.

Production of the Equinox has been down since Aug. 16. GM said during production downtime it will repair and ship unfinished vehicles from many impacted plants, including Fort Wayne and Silao.