The big picture: General Motors told the Detroit Free Press that starting next Monday, September 6, it’ll temporarily halt nearly all of its production plants in the US as the lingering Covid-19 pandemic continues to hamper production of semiconductor chips overseas. GM spokesman Dan Flores said he wasn’t sure if the supply constraint is because employees have a high rate of infection of if the government is putting restrictions on plants due to the pandemic.
A spokesperson for GM said the company will run its Arlington Assembly in Texas at regular production next week, along with its Flint Assembly plant where it makes heavy-duty pickup trucks, the Bowling Green Assembly in Kentucky where the Corvette is built, and a portion of its Lansing Grand River Assembly where Camaro and Cadillac Blackwing cars are created.
Unfortunately, all other assembly plants will go idle come next Monday.
“During the downtime, we will repair and ship unfinished vehicles from many impacted plants, including Fort Wayne and Silao, to dealers to help meet the strong customer demand for our products,” Flores added.
The length of downtime varies greatly by plant. Here’s what GM had to say about the affected facilities:
- Fort Wayne and Silao Assembly plants to take a week of downtime starting Monday. GM expects to restart regular production Sept. 13.
- Wentzville Assembly in Missouri, where GM builds its Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups and Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans, will take downtime for two weeks starting Monday.
- CAMI Assembly (Canada) and San Luis Potosi Assembly (Mexico) will take two additional weeks of downtime through the week of Sept. 27. Production of the Chevrolet Equinox midsize SUV, which GM makes at both facilities, has been down since Aug. 16. San Luis Potosi also builds the GMC Terrain midsize SUV.
- Lansing Delta Township Assembly adds two weeks of downtime starting Monday. GM expects to resume production there the week of Sept. 20. GM makes the Chevrolet Traverse and the Buick Enclave midsize SUVs at Lansing Delta Township.
- Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee, where GM builds the GMC Acadia, Cadillac XT5 and Cadillac XT6 midsize SUVs, adds two weeks of downtime starting Monday. GM expects to restart production the week of Sept. 20.
- Ramos Assembly in Mexico will take two additional weeks of downtime for Chevrolet Blazer midsize SUV production through the week of Sept. 13. In addition, Equinox production will be down until Oct. 4. Production of the Chevrolet Equinox has been down since Aug. 16.