Due to the chip crisis, General Motors (GM) took the decision to temporarily close 8 of its factories in North America. The automaker's damage is estimated in billions.
General Motors (GM) announced last Thursday (2), that it will temporarily close all its factories in all North American countries. In total, eight factories due to the semiconductor chips must be closed, among them, three factories that are responsible for the production of the best-selling pickup truck of the automaker in the USA, the factories of Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Wentzville, Missouri and Lansing, Michigan.
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GM shutdown in North America will impact sales of several models around the world
In addition to the General Motors factories in the US, three other factories in Mexico and Canada are also expected to have their activities temporarily closed, 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 for the automaker to The Verge via email, General Motors will not be completely stopped during plant downtime in North America.
According to the e-mail, GM should repair and send unfinished vehicles from some factories that were hit by the chip crisis, such as Silao and Fort Wayne, to the company's dealerships, which should help to better understand the needs of customers.
The situation remains fluid and complex, but General Motors is confident of its ability to seek creative means to minimize the impacts generated by the crisis on its vehicles with the highest demand and restricted capacity in North America.
Plant closures in North America will cost GM billions and could affect other continents
It is worth remembering that this is the second time this year that General Motors temporarily closes part of its factories in the USA. In February, the automaker closed its Kansas plants for two weeks.
In Brazil, in June, Onix production was also compromised due to the shortage of semiconductors. After all, GM still hasn't disclosed the exact amount of the loss in production due to the semiconductor crisis.
However, Mary Barra, the company's CEO, explained during a recent earnings call that the purchasing, engineering, manufacturing and sales teams are shifting chips from smaller cars to SUVs, larger pickup trucks and electric cars. At the same conference, it was estimated that the interruption of factories would cost somewhere between US$ 1,5 billion and US$ 2 billion.
General Motors takes advantage of the downtime to modernize its unit
During the interruption of production in São Caetano do Sul, GM took advantage of the moment to carry out work at the factory. One of the main novelties was the installation of a press High Speed. Making the factory the first with the technology in the Americas.
The new equipment has the capacity to print around 25 parts a day. To give you an idea, the machine that is in use can print only 12.
