Ford Halts F-150 Production Following Supplier Fire, GM Could Capitalize
11
Sponsored Links
Trucks are money makers for General Motors, Ford and Fiat-Chrysler. And when production abruptly stops, it’s never a good thing.
Ford has shut down production at its Kansas City assembly plant following a fire at supplier Meridian Magnesium Products. Ford Authority reported on Wednesday that the automaker has temporarily laid off all 3,600 workers from the Ford F-150 side of the plant. It’s unclear if Ford will also pause work at the Dearborn Truck Plant, which employs another 4,000 workers.
“At this time, the company doesn’t know for sure when or for how long we will be down,” UAW President and Dearborn Truck Plant Chairman Burkie Morris, said to plant workers.
Meanwhile, GM could take advantage of Ford’s production downtime. 2018 Chevrolet Silverado and 2018 GMC Sierra production is currently online and humming along. AutoPacific Manager of Product Analysis, Dave Sullivan, said in the report that any downtime longer than a week will have serious consequences for Ford.
Production shouldn’t fall offline for months, but it does open a small window for competitors to exploit while Ford finds a solution following the fire. Two people were injured in the fire, but no deaths have been reported.
- Sweepstakes Of The Month: Win a 2023 Corvette Z06 Convertible. Details here.
Sponsored Links
The part they left out here is Ford reportedly has 250,000 trucks on dealer lots. If this is a short shut down it should have little effect.
Even for ordered trucks few are ordered in May due to the change overs.
The quarter million in supplies were offered in other stories.
There will still be a lull wave. A standing supply is needed, if the standing “float” supply isnt replenished youll have shortages.
Thank you captain obvious.
But this is also the time of year they are not going to replenish much till August anyways.
Orders for 17 models are cut off and new 18 models will be put in but not built till mid July.
Build out will go on till till the third week of June. In this time they will not sell a quarter million truck.
GM will sell more truckdue to two other reasons. Those who want the new trucks from 19 and those who want close out pricing on the 18 models.
Changes for Ford will be minimal.
Captain obvious? So I pull rank on Putz Scott the Third
I thought GM claimed their profits were down because they were retooling truck plants for the 2019s. Unless the 2019 go full production and start hitting lots while Ford is down and out than wouldn’t it seem GM is also in a slow phase between truck generation change over? And Dodge is having launch issues of their own with the new 2019 Ram.
My thinking also. If the 2019 GM trucks were in full production I could see Fords problem benefitting them. Even if the GM plants are not shut down I can still see people waiting for the 2019 GM Trucks. So if they did get a bump it would not be as significant.
Ford says they have an 84 day supply of F-150s
It’s a fire in a magnesium plant, which probably means the tooling is destroyed. Between this and the Dodge/GM switch over, it’s probably
not the best time to buy a truck.
To bad it’s not being shut down for the rest of the year!
Supposedly it’s radiator supports. How the hell could they depend on only one supplier for a component for the most important vehicle in their portfolio?
Ford has been making a lot of mistakes recently and this is yet another. Why would you only have one supplier for such a critical vehicle that is the best selling in the country?