General Motors Will Temporarily Close Its Factories Across All North American Countries

Due to the chip crisis, General Motors (GM) has decided to temporarily close 8 of its factories in North America. The automaker’s loss is estimated in billions

General Motors (GM) announced last Thursday (2) that it will temporarily close all of its factories in all countries of North America. In total, eight factories will be closed due to semiconductor chips, including three factories responsible for producing the best-selling pickup truck of the automaker in the US, the factories in Spring Hill, Tennessee, Wentzville, Missouri, and Lansing, Michigan.

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GM Shutdown in North America Will Impact Sales of Various Models Worldwide

In addition to General Motors factories in the US, three other factories in Mexico and Canada are also expected to suspend their activities temporarily, affecting the production of several vehicles such as:

• Chevrolet (Cheyenne, Silverado, Equinox, Traverse, and Express)
• GMC (Sierra, Terrain, Acadia, and Savana)
• Cadillac (XT5 and XT6)
• Buick (Enclave)

According to a spokesperson from the automaker in an email to The Verge, General Motors will not be completely idle during the downtime of the factories in North America.

According to the email, GM will repair and send unfinished vehicles from some factories affected by the chip crisis, such as Silao and Fort Wayne, to company dealerships, which should help better understand customer needs.

The situation remains fluid and complex, but General Motors is confident in its ability to find creative ways to minimize the impacts generated by the crisis on its high-demand vehicles and restricted capacity in North America.

Factory Closures in North America Will Cost GM Billions and May Affect Other Continents

It is worth noting that this is the second time this year that General Motors has temporarily closed part of its factories in the US. In February, the automaker closed its plants in Kansas for two weeks.

In Brazil, in June, the production of the Onix was also compromised due to the shortage of semiconductors. Nonetheless, GM has not yet revealed the exact value of the loss in production due to the semiconductor crisis.

However, Mary Barra, the company’s CEO, explained during a recent earnings conference that the purchasing, engineering, manufacturing, and sales teams are reallocating chips from smaller cars to SUVs, larger pickups, and electric cars. During the same conference, it was estimated that the factory shutdowns would cost between US$ 1.5 billion and US$ 2 billion.

General Motors Takes Advantage of Downtime to Modernize Its Plant

During the production interruption in São Caetano do Sul, GM took the opportunity to carry out renovations at the factory. One of the major updates was the installation of a High Speed press. This makes the factory the first with such technology in the Americas.

The new equipment has a capacity to stamp around 25,000 parts per day. For comparison, the current machine can only stamp around 12,000.