General Motors will extend production downtime of the Chevy Equinox at its Ramos Arizpe Assembly plant in Mexico.
With this extension, production of the Chevy Equinox at Ramos Arizpe is now expected to resume on September 6th, 2021. Production of the Chevy Blazer will remain unaffected, with the mid-size crossover continuing to roll off the assembly line at the facility.
In addition to Ramos Arizpe, the Chevy Equinox is also produced at the GM San Luis Potosi plant in Mexico and the GM CAMI Assembly plant in Canada. Production of the compact crossover has also been halted at those plants and will not return until at least September 6th.
At GM, smaller vehicles like the Equinox have been the hardest hit by the ongoing semiconductor chip shortage. Since the automaker’s larger vehicles sell in larger numbers and are more profitable, it has been prioritizing its chip supply for plants that build these vehicles.
GM also confirmed this week that its pickup truck plants would come back online next Monday following a seven-day shutdown that started this past Monday, while its Lansing Delta Township plant will take an additional week of downtime.
The automaker has been building partially finished vehicles amid the chip shortage and storing them in inventory lots – something it calls a “build shy” strategy. This allows it to keep its plants up and running even if it doesn’t have the chips it needs to complete all vehicles. It can then bring these vehicles back into the plant and quickly complete them once it receives the parts.
GM is hoping to avoid future chip shortages by negotiating stronger supply contracts with chip makers, the automaker’s CFO, Paul Jacobson, said earlier this year.
“Whether we work with foundries to give longer-term commitments or we look to partnering with folks, we’re looking at all aspects of the supply chain to really ensure that something of this magnitude as it relates to chips doesn’t happen again,” Jacobson said.
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