General Motors To Extend Production Cuts At Wentzville And Lansing Grand River Plants

Two General Motors plants are facing more production downtime due to the global semiconductor chip shortage.

In a statement released this week, the American automaker said it will extend production downtime at Lansing Grand River by a further two weeks. The plant has been idled since March 15^th, when GM was forced to shut down shop after running out of the ever-important microchips.

Additionally, the automaker has decided to shut down its Wentzville Assembly plant in Kentucky for two weeks beginning on March 29^th.

Lansing Grand River Assembly builds the Cadillac CT4 and Cadillac CT5 luxury sedans, along with the Chevy Camaro sports coupe. The Wentzville facility produces the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size pickup trucks.

A number of other GM plants have also been temporarily idled due to the chip shortage, including its San Luis Potosi Assembly plant in Mexico, Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas and CAMI Assembly plant in Ontario.

A global shortage of microchips has led to production cuts at many automotive plants across the globe in recent weeks. With limited access to microchips, GM is prioritizing the small supply it has for its most popular and profitable vehicles – those being its full-size pickup trucks and SUVs.

GM has not said how much production volume it would lose in total due to the chip shortage, though it plans to make up a portion of the lost production later this year. GM CEO Mary Barra said previously that the chip shortage could cut $2 billion out of its profits this year and would also cut into its immediate cash flow.

The global chip shortage was exacerbated this week after a Renesas Electronics plant in Japan caught fire due to an equipment malfunction, sending smoke billowing into a nearby cleanroom where the chips are manufactured. Renesas has said it will take at least a month to resume production at the facility. The plant fire is expected to have a drastic impact on the domestic production out of Japan’s big thee automakers, Toyota, Honda and Nissan.

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