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Chip Shortage Has Cut Production Of 278,000 General Motors Vehicles So Far

The global microchip shortage has forced General Motors to cut the production of 278,000 vehicles so far – the second most lost vehicle production tied to the chip shortage of any automaker, behind only Ford.

In May, GM indicated the chip shortage had cut about 80,000 vehicles from its usual production schedule, the majority of which came from the GM Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas. That number has now risen to 278,000 vehicles as GM continues to keep certain production lines closed in order to prioritize chips for its most profitable models, like the Chevy Silverado pickup and Chevy Tahoe SUV.

According to Automotive News, the automaker has so far cut around 82,000 Chevy Equinox crossovers from its production schedule, along with 57,000 Chevy Malibu Sedans. Other GM vehicles that have been heavily impacted by the shortage include the Chevy Camaro, Cadillac CT4 and CT5 and Cadillac XT4.

“We’ve been focused on leveraging every available semiconductor to build and ship our most popular and in-demand products, including our highly profitable full-size pickups and full-size SUVs,” GM CFO Paul Jacobson told reporters during the company’s earnings call earlier this month, as quoted by AN.

Ford has by far been the hardest hit by the shortage, so far missing out on the production of 324,616 vehicles. GM is second with 277,966, followed by Stellantis in third at 252,193. The Big Three are taking the brunt of the impact, with the next hardest-hit manufacturer, Subaru, only losing out on 45,272 vehicles.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also caused other production setbacks unrelated to the semi-conductor shortage. For example, GM will shut down the Bowling Green Assembly plant in Kentucky this week due to a parts shortage not related to chips. It also shut the Corvette plant down earlier in the year due to a transmission parts shortage. An industry expert told AN that manufacturers are also experience shortages of plastics and seat foam as the pandemic continues to affect automotive supply chains.

GM has also started building partly finished pickup trucks and stockpiling them on various lots around the nation, which it plans to complete once the chip shortage subsides. Some Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks are also being built without Active Fuel Management (AFM) and Dynamic Fuel Management (DFM) technologies in order to cut back on the number of chips needed to produce them.

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Sam loves to write and has a passion for auto racing, karting and performance driving of all types.

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Comments

  1. once production gets back to normal expect late model used to be high priced due to low volumes the last couple years. It may make more sense to buy new. funny that I drove by a couple honda dealers and there lots were packed huh.

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    1. Just put a deposit down for a Honda Ridgeline and dealer expects only ONE per month until October. I’m looking at mine sometime in July.

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      1. Why the hell would you buy a Ridgeline as a man. What a weak girly wanted truck

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  2. Ah the stupid American Automakers. Just a machoism of the decline and rotting out of America.

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    1. Your rage is misinformed and misplaced. Nobody will listen to automakers because their volumes are negligible in the scheme of things.

      You should be blaming Apple, AMD, Nvidia, Broadcom, Qualcomm, whose volumes actually matter.

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      1. Then please explain why this isn’t affecting all the foreign manufacturers including Mitsubishi, Toyota, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai/Kia and the German makes nearly as bad. Go to any of their dealers and they are well stocked with most everything they sell. Go to any GM or Ford or Dodge dealer and they are selling a handful of used vehicles with the occasional new model and look like ghost towns.

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        1. Joe I can assure you that at least here in my local area it is affecting the import market as well. I work at a Chevy, VW, and Hyundai Dealership with a Toyota Dealership just down the road that have zero Tundra’s and Tacoma’s and a very small hand full of SUV’s. Currently our Chevy lot has 2, yes 2 Chevy vehicles on the lot, what does come in sells immediately which makes it very hard to keep our Monthly average of 140-150 New Chevy’s sold each month. Our Hyundai lot is feeling the same pressure.

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        2. I’m a dealer in Canada and Hyundai has told us not to expect any new inventory for 45 days! it affect us all. Try buying appliances, try buying anything right now, if you can source it you are paying a premium. That’s the reality. We also own Honda, Kia, Nissan, Ford, GM we have struggled for inventory for months now. WE usually carry over 250M in inventory and are now languishing around 65M on 14 stores. Our turns are under 30 days…just info from someone close to the issue… just saying… I won’t begin to go into the issue of the used market right now… would make your head spin…

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  3. Just like toilet paper during the pandemic, you couldn’t find Charmin on the shelf but Scott was there until there was none. Then the blaming. I assume because of mismanaged filling of orders this didn’t have to happen. The management of the information had people assuming the pandemic would be short lived so large orders going to closed businesses were still being filled. I assume this was/is also happening with fleet orders of vehicles. Making less available to public.

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  4. I remember when GM made their own semiconductors at their Delco Electronics division. Of course they spun that off because they didn’t want to deal with union workers and their benefits, it was cheaper to outsource everything. Now they are complaining that they can’t buy enough semiconductors. Ironic.

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  5. Chips are the least of their worries. GM is experiencing engine lifter/pushrod failures in all its engines in Cadillac, Chevrolet (includes Corvette) and GMC. These engine failures are occurring in 2019 – 2021vehicles. The failure is due to the engine economy management system where 2 to 4 cylinders are deactivated to save gas. When the throttle is pushed down, not all the deactivated lifters pump up resulting in bent pushrods. There is a parts shortage so repairs are taking around a month. There is a TSB on this so don’t take my word on it. My 4 month old truck with 5500 miles is a victim of this.

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    1. Why are they still building cars working 6 days a week if they short of parts

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  6. Why are they still building cars when they are short of parts and I’m from Lansing MI why are we still working six days a week if they short chips and parts it’s stupid we don’t even get to see are families except 1 day out the week

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  7. I am trying to order a top of the line Yukon xl and can’t even order it with tech or tow package due to chip shortage. Any insights as to when they might get this straightened out?

    Reply

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