In early July, GM revealed that it was sitting on roughly 95,000 incomplete vehicles as a result of its ‘build shy’ strategy, which has carried the automaker through the global microchip shortage. The automaker has been working hard to clear out these unfinished vehicles, which took a large bite out of its Q2 profits as they languished on vacant lots, with the automaker dwindling the backlog down to roughly 75,000 units.
Speaking to The Detroit Free Press, GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said the automaker was caught slightly off guard as it was faced with a shortage of microchips toward the end of the second fiscal quarter, forcing it to partially complete 95,000 vehicles without certain electronic components and store them. The automaker said in its Q2 2022 earnings report that it would recognize revenue on these vehicles throughout Q3 as it brought them back into the plant for completion. It has so far cleared 20,000 of these stored vehicles, with Jacobson describing this result as “tremendous progress” in only one month.
“We’re leaning in very, very aggressively to get those vehicles to market because the demand is there,” Jacobson said of the remaining 75,000 unfinished vehicles it has in its inventory.
Jacobson also said GM has planned for future chip shortages by reducing the variety of chips that it uses in its various model lines, as well as reducing the number of chips it uses in them overall. He said that by the end of the decade, GM vehicles will use only three separate chip families, which will likely make its chip supply chain less fragile.
While chips are a contributing factor to low inventory levels at GM dealers, they aren’t the only reason why it’s difficult to find the right vehicle. Automakers have also dealt with shortages of other components, including plastics and seat foam made from petroleum products, while shipping delays have also caused backlogs at plants. Jacobson told the Free Press that GM has been spending “a lot of money” on priority freight to ensure it can get vehicles to dealers, but expects shipping wait times to normalize throughout 2023 and 2024.
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Dee hart how long did yours sit waiting to be delivered?
Actually, I started shopping online by entering the specs, model, and color I wanted online and shopped dealer inventory, after 3 days of looking, my vehicle showed up as dealer stock just 40 miles away. I called up the dealer, gave them my credit card number, and told them to put a $2,000 refundable deposit to hold the truck. Two days later, I went to the dealer, did a test drive, and bought it. The dealer had ordered the vehicle about 6 months beforehand... The dealer did the waiting, not me. The color I wanted was "Satin Steel Metallic", a color only available for half the model year. So I was quite surprised I had my new vehicle in the color I wanted, spec'd as I wanted it. My daughter went to her dealer and ordered the same vehicle (different color) and had to wait for over 6 months for hers to be delivered. In all, it took only a week and a half from starting to look to the truck in my driveway.
Just don’t wreck your vehicle once you get it. Our 2020 Blazer was damaged in an accident which was caused by the “other guy.” It was still drivable, so we waited for six weeks for repair shop to gather replacement parts, then took it in. Still, they needed a body piece, so we have waited another five weeks, with GM saying they have no idea when the service part will be made or shipped. So, the repair shop is going to put the Blazer back together as per safety and send it back to us and we will drive until body panel is produced. From a GM retiree who thought he’d heard all the bs over 30 years… obviously not.
Can someone tell me what’s in Marion Ohio? That’s where my new truck is sitting now it was built June 1st sitting in Fort Wayne it left there July 11th and is now sitting in Ohio. Is that a factory where they complete vehicles needing chips
Edgar there's a rail yard in marion, Ohio. If u go to Google maps and type in Marion, Ohio and look east of the city then zoom in u can see a huge parking lot with vehicles and about 4 carrier trucks with vehicles loaded on them. My truck was built June 1st also so it's probably there too. How did u find out your truck was in Marion Ohio
The dealership looked it up for me because they were tracking it. It arrived there July 11th at 1:15 pm and been there every since
Thanks Sir I’m hoping both of ours will be leaving there real soon. I can’t see the rail yard
Edgar the rail yard is 1.34 miles southeast of the marion municipal Airport
So I contacted a gm dealership in Marion and ask about the rail yard and he said that GM sent vehicles there because they ran out of room at the plants and that in Ohio they were not finishing GM vehicles there. He said when they were ready to complete them they would transport them back to manufacturing plant to complete. I hope he’s wrong about that he also said there were other vehicles there that were not GM. Yet the 23 models are showing up on dealers lot’s, make that make sense.. I am beyond pissed
I'm pissed with u bro. My salesman claims they're gonna give me a great financing deal to make up for my long wait since they told me it would take 8-12 weeks for my vehicle to be delivered. It's been 16 weeks and counting. Can't wait to see what deal they come up with
Got tired of waiting, the one I ordered is still sitting in Marion Ohio so I started looking myself and found the exact truck I ordered same color and everything at Rick Hendricks GMC in Duluth Georgia with no Chips missing so I got me a flight on Friday August 19th and drove it home the next day. This dealership had 5 other trucks just like mine SLT x31 that were not sold. Great people to work with if you call them ask for a salesman named Musa he was great and very knowledgeable.
The moral of the story is DO NOT BUY WHAT YOU CAN NOT PHYSICALLY TOUCH. If everyone did this, we would not be in this mess. Do not be dealer loyal. Your vehicle is out there, the one you want with the options you want... Shop online, look through dealer inventory, see what you want, Phone to confirm it's there, give a deposit over the phone to hold it, then go buy it. It took me a week and a half to find, buy and own my new vehicle and it was a hard-to-find color that was discontinued halfway through the model year. Expand your search state or province-wide.
my problem is my local dealer was offering $1,000s below msrp. thats right, BELOW MSRP. like $5k. nobody else can touch the price they advertised and committed to. my concern now is that the financing deal 2.89% will be gone and that just adds wasteful interest dollars to the cost
I ordered my Silverado High Country in March. Still waiting. I heard that good things come to those who wait.
Ordered my truck April 24 22 and today I am still waiting for my 1500 it was built may 31 completed and sits in shipping hell .all the time I see new trucks in all the time at the dealership but nothing new on mine like everyone else this is killing my love for Chevys. Seriously 16 weeks to get an ordered vehicle
I ordered a '22 Sierra Denali, 3.0, with Super Cruise. I got 3800 status confirmation two months ago, and yesterday received confirmation that it is in build shy status, sitting somewhere due to missing chip(s). I guess I still count myself as lucky that it will be eventually delivered, since they no longer offer Super Cruise on the trucks seemingly at all.
The Super Cruise was one of the build shy items.
As GM car owner I’m very disappointed with your Camaro 2017 convertible build it’s just waste of money with transmission shuddered problem nobody able to fix this problem even your GM plant based on MI . After spending slots of money to fixed the car but It’s still shudder just waste of money 👎🏼
I see what you are saying, but I have been trying to find a truck for two years, and I would rather buy new than spend almost the same amount for a used truck with 40k miles. If they would deliver today, I would gladly wait for certain features that are not mission critical. To each their own. This is not a GM specific problem.
I put money down on an LTZ Silverado over 1.5 months ago. it was 'in transit'. I have also seen many other vehicles come in while nobody can seem to give me any info on mine. I assume its because being an LTZ, it has more chips and/or other parts they need, so they are choosing to finish more lower end trucks than higher end ones?
I have my 2018 Silverado Z-71 LTZ 6.2 with all of the bell and whistles and it still runs fine. I will run it until the wheels fall off before I buy a new truck that I can't get what I want. You people crying about not having a complete vehicle, did the dealer hold a gun to your head or did you just have to have a new truck? Anyway, you bought it. Quit your b!tching and live with it.