GM plans to pause production of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks for two weeks at one of its truck plants, starting in late March. The pause will take place at GM’s Fort Wayne Assembly plant located in Indiana, and will begin on the week of March 27th, 2023.
The production pause is intended to “help maintain optimal inventory levels” according to Cherry Weiland, the Fort Wayne facility’s Assistant Plant Director. GM wants to “proactively” keep inventory within certain limits, The Detroit News reports, targeting a 50 to 60 days supply that roughly matches the 60 days supply preferred by the auto industry before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chevrolet slightly exceeded this inventory optimum in December 2022. Production and shipment continued improving during that month, while sales remained basically flat. As a result, inventory at dealerships climbed to just above 60 days.
During December, it was noted new vehicle supply rose 66 percent year-over-year, but sales increased just 2 percent. Analysts noted this would lead to growth in incentives and discounts to move new vehicles off lots faster. New vehicle prices and interest rates are high while used car prices are dropping, causing an exodus of customers from new vehicle sales as they look for a thriftier used option.
GM CFO Paul Jacobson stated in the January 31st earnings report that The General is actively managing production to match up supply with demand. A backlog of unsold Chevy Silverado truck inventory is currently adding up with 100 days supply reported at the end of January 2023.
The two-week pause will give demand to catch up with supply and clear out some of the accumulated Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks. GM’s three other full-size truck facilities in Flint, Michigan, Canada, and Mexico will continue operating and producing vehicles while Fort Wayne Assembly is shut down. The Chevy Silverado is the top seller among the Bow Tie’s nameplates.
GM anticipates $10.5 billion to $12.5 billion in adjusted earnings for 2023 despite slackening demand, with inventory management such as the two-week idling of Fort Wayne Assembly already accounted for in its financial forecasts. February sales volume should be sustained by fleet sales according to some analysts.
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Comments
“New vehicle prices and interest rates are high while used car prices are dropping, causing an exodus of customers from new vehicle sales as they look for a thriftier used option.”
100% agree with this. Interest rates are double compared to the last time I bought a new car, and used car values have been on the decline for several months now.
Actually, the last 2-3 weeks, used car prices have been increasing a bit. The thought is that tax returns have been getting distributed and people are spending on used vehicles, thus driving down inventory and forcing wholesale prices up in order to build up stock.
What is GM thinking they should open it up for fleet vehicles and get them built fleet vehicles are sold at the time of ordering
Jerry,
Fleet sales are done at much lower prices so as a result, this will lower the resale value of our GM trucks. Let the other guys sell to fleets to sell their souls.
However, GM can shutter crew cab models since they are everywhere but the double cabs are not really available in numbers. I’m trying to find a 2023 double cab with LZ0 and max tow and its as rare as a unicorn.
i here you – today’s you can have it any way you would like as long as it’s how we say….
No, it’s my way GM or you’ll over build your market of trucks that a Dealer over orders foe mark up’s and you will find nobody buying…. gee guess what – your there NOW
In my lowly opinion GM is nuts. i ordered a 23 silverado Sept 19 22. So far no idea when it will delivered. should have ordered a Ford
When dealer lots are empty and customers cannot receive ordered vehicles, you don’t pause production. Also, whomever is in charge that thinks idling the plant for 2 weeks is a good thing, that doing this will keep prices hiked, while it may keep prices hiked, the downside is you are pissing off customers, especially those waiting on build and delivery, and on top of this paying UAW workers 75% or more of their pay to sit at home for 2 weeks doing nothing.
So, is this stupidity even making GM more profit? I don’t see how. Paying an entire plant of workers 75% of their salary to build nothing for two weeks when for 100% of their salary 1300 trucks per day can be built is just dumb. At 7 days per week that’s 18,200 trucks not being built at a cost of 75% salary. You aren’t going to get that loss back from the difference between a normal sale price and an artificially inflated sale price. You just aren’t. The only thing being accomplished with this is pissing off customers and losing money.
I work there a yes it’s more than 75 percent pay. Thank you for all your vehicle purchases
Well guys you are not missing out on much I bought a new GMC Sierra Elevation Diesel 8 months ago 7 check engine light and 5 times at service Dept!!! So sick of it they should be working on making them better ive talked to ten other people with similar issues on their silverados yukons and gmc’s I have wasted time and money! Hours driving back and forth to my house and dealer to get it fixed I thought getting a new car would keep me away from the service dept
The “company” doesn’t pay the employees 75% of their pay for layoff. The UAW picks up part of the tab and unemployment insurance pays the rest. The temp employees only get unemployment, so they don’t get 75% of their pay. Additionally, both Silao and Oshawa are still producing half ton trucks while Ft. Wayne idles.
Only about 15-25%, unemployment comes out first
Well guys you are not missing out on much I bought a new GMC Sierra Elevation Diesel 8 months ago 7 check engine light and 5 times at service Dept!!! So sick of it they should be working on making them better ive talked to ten other people with similar issues on their silverados yukons and gmc’s I have wasted time and money! Hours driving back and forth to my house and dealer to get it fixed I thought getting a new car would keep me away from the service dept
Seems like an attempt to create artificial scarcity, instead of responding to market forces that would have GM lower their prices or produce trucks with less expensive optional features or both. Having excess capacity could be an opportunity to get the next generation of buyers into vehicles instead. Retaining margin at the cost of market share reminds me of something old GM would have done.
I don’t buy it. As whypac stated, they’ll still have to pay everyone in the plant to not work and there are still customers waiting on trucks. They want to maintain the narrative that the chip crisis is over because Biden “solved” it with the “Chips Act” right? Not buying it. GMAuthority just published a story about how GMC is going to be sold in Korea and it sold out in the first few hours – and these were the high end Denali trim level trucks that should be coming from Ft. Wayne and not Silao given the cost structure.
I’d also like to say, the “100 day” supply is a bunch of bologna. Go to the Chevy or GMC website and do a Build and Price. Then check the available inventory for your build within 100 miles. I did this with Chevrolet. The site says there are 1030 Silverados within 100 miles.
The problem is:
– Zero are what I asked for
– Of the first 48 entries in the 1030 hit-list, half are in-transit, meaning 24 of the first 48 entries don’t exist
– Of the first 48 entries in the 1030 hit-list, 5 of 48 are the Next Trim Level Up
– Load the next 24 hits, and so on, and so on, the proportion of entries that are in-transit and/or Next Trim Level Up increases, meaning more and more of the vehicles in the hit list are non-existent and/or higher trim levels
“100 day” supply GM? Well, that’s what happens when you only build the upper trim levels and continually jack up the MSRP during a time when interest rates are continually rising. No regular folk can afford your over priced, top tier trims. Maybe instead of idling your plant for two weeks you should build 18,200 entry level trims.
You do know that GM builds theses trucks in Canada and Mexico also? And the US is really big, so trucks get shipped to dealers more than a 100 miles away from your house?
It’s the product mix. It’s bad. It’s all 2.7L Bench seat Elevation Editions and RSTs, priced at $70K.
Find me a nice 5.3L with a power rear sliding window and Bose audio. The stuff people want, GM can’t build.
Yes 70k for a truck with no vented seats no leather no slide window and no sunroof.. with mark up and high interest now days plus they are not reliable mine breaks down once a month there is an issue
crazy company – cant deliver a Silverado ordered in September – no idea when it will arrive
He has a point. He can’t get his truck delivered and they are cutting production. Quit being an a@@hole and get a life.
The only problem with Ford is, they too are having a hard time selling their trucks because the “Greed Idiots ” still won’t drop those prices on those ridiculous Mark Ups.
……and I sit for 4 months waiting for a build date on my 2023 Sierra Denali Ultimate. Makes no sense to me. Had I known that, I may not have put down a deposit on it. Just ridiculous.
I’ll wait or keep my GMC. Ecoboost needs premium to tow in a half ton. Toyota has horrible fuel economy.
The insanity is over and truck sales are definitely slowing. A two week pause won’t matter. High end buyers are still around but very little inventory exists for them. Mid level buyers are sitting on the sidelines.
All you need to know is:
‘GM’s other full-size (LD) truck facilities in Canada, and Mexico will continue operating and producing vehicles while Fort Wayne Assembly is shut down. “
How does that help if I want a double cab? Crew cabs are everywhere. Wouldn’t it be best for Fort Wayne to build double cabs?
FW is the only plant that builds doubles.
gm does not care about doubles, they just think people will accept a crew and pull in more of your cash.
Hmmm. Well. O.K. I don’t know. Maybe they have a military contract for 2 weeks to help the Ukraine. Or maybe their toilets need replacing. Who can’t use a couple of weeks of.
Here’s a thought… how about building the sold retail orders you have instead of dealer stock 4 cyl turbos that no one wants? Been waiting over 13 months for a truck.
Maybe they could send out the semi-conductors I have been waiting on since last June !
They never built the 2022 that I had on order now they can’t build the 2023 that I have on order,yet we have LT,Custom,RST and LTZ on the lot where I work but no High Country
Update I now have a scheduled production date of the 1st week in May
Maybe if GM would quit raising the prices of new trucks by $5,000 a year customers would buy them . They got used to people in a panic paying over list price and figure it would go on forever.
I see 15,000 dollars added to vehicle’s msrp here in Gastonia NC at our Gm dealer everyday . Still happening in February 2023. No end on sight to Market Adjustment Pricing stickers being added to vehicles.
Oversupply? I was at my small dealer on Wednesday and in the front line he has 13 new Silverados, 11 of them had the four banger and two the 5.3. If you go shopping for a new truck you will not find any selections of 6.2’s or 3.0’s. Nor will you find LTZ’s, High Country’s, or any other higher end trim levels. As fast as they come in they are scooped up. My opinion is they know if they crank out these higher end trucks they will get sold right away and the four bangers and customs will sit there for months on end.
Can’t build them if you don’t have the chips! Why is everybody blaming GM? It is the Chip makers that can’t deliver! Ford and Dodge and Toyota and Nissan all have the same problem! Toyota and Nissan not as much since they sell a fraction of the trucks! I worked for GM for 30 years and I talked to people from GM a while back. The reason for the building of lower line trucks is chip availability! My local dealer used to carry about 90% of his inventory as Denali trucks, now he gets only a few and many more LTS and LS models, salesman said they can get them but the Denali and AT4 not so much. Trucks have hundreds of chips in each one, almost option and function on a vehicle today is controlled by a micro chip!
not everybody wishes to have all those overpriced bells and whistles…. KISS is the king of long term happy customers as their not seated at the dealership hoping the tech is not hung over from having to redo the job that should never got pass QC…
How about producing repair parts, you know (support the product with an adequate supply) customers waiting weeks for parts is unacceptable and expensive rental car costs piling up. Not everyone has a second vehicle and dealership’s don’t supply loaner cars ” none available, sorry!)
good point, but, dealers don’t have the storage space for sitting parts, like they used to.
I’m having lunch with Mary today. I’ll bring up these points of what the customers are saying versus what stock holders and Washington DC are saying for priorities.
will not matter – she and her so-called assistants don’t know a thing. impossible to get an answer from anyone.
GM and other manufacturers finally learned ture supply and demand.
Limit production and demand rises.
Two weeks of closer will not affect many consumers, there is sufficient supply on the ground.
The days of hundreds of trucks in stock and 20% iff are over.
Stock holders learned sales numbers do not always equate to higher profits
With a retail turn and earn system, many stores are not, at this time, working with small fleet operators.
As, noted the UAW pays most of the employees benefits.
One problem with limiting supply is they might end up going to a different brand , then you may never get them back!! What does that cost? Customers for life is what you want.
It seems funny, I live just down state from the Ft. Truck plant and there are very few new Silvers to choose from on dealer lots. I believe that this is a ploy to keep prices up and incentives down. I will wait them out and save my cash for the right time.
I was looking at a 2022/2023 Silverado LT/RST, couldn’t find one I liked with a trailer brake controller and the column shifter/bench seat. Deals were 53-57k range with supplier discount, which every dealer offered to do AFTER I told them no way I was paying +MSRP.
Ended up buying a used 2020 Yukon XL denali under 50k miles with everything I needed and wanted for just over 50k, without any markup or dealer fee B/S. First time I’ve bought a used car in 20 years.
Talking to my neighbor yesterday. He is looking for a 2023 Ford F-250 diesel. He has been to three different dealerships. Sticker on the trucks he is looking at list for $80,000. He went inside and talked to salesman and all three dealers added $8,000 to $10.000 to the sticker. He said he has never paid MSRP and never will. He said he will wait till prices come down before he looks again.
I bought a GMC 2023 2500 SLT off the lot on Jan. 3rd for 8,000 below list and got what I gave new for my 2016 2500 gas! Went with diesel this time, I could not resist the deal I got!
yep – i will go to the Wrecking Yard and buy a Totaled to rebuild first… YOU do not drive the Title!
GM- Cadillac is to busy trying to push the Lyriq to worry about it’s base of Cadillac buyers.
Can anyone say “recession”? Thanks joe biden!
Still have many 22s they are not discounting, makes no sense to buy a 22 and save a few bucks.
usually last years model have cash on the hood by Nov.
Not much of a selection of double cabs, why pay the extra for a crew when you have no use for it when you have to pay MSRP?
With the 2023 MSRPs now combined with the interest rates, their just too expensive. That’s why the lots are full here. Me and my Wife do well and I could not justify paying 73K for a RST or 74k on a GMC Elevation before tax or fees, now add the interest rates. How does a truck monthly payment cost more than a 400k mortgage payment.
If GM trucks are backing up on the lots, perhaps it’s because GM isn’t building the trucks that I want to buy. I walk by the 2.7l trucks simply because I don’t want to deal with their sub-standard transmissions, and I can’t afford a Denali, so that doesn’t leave much for me to choose from. And try finding a regular cab 8′ bed 1/2 truck, or a double cab 6.5′ bed truck. I can’t be the only one that still buys a pickup as a work vehicle !
Had one on order since October , 8-12 weeks was told. It still isnt here. I drove to Statesboro NC to pick up the same vehicle I had on order that I found myself looking through Chevys inventory. GM has to do better or they will continue to lose customers.
……and I sit for 4 months waiting for a build date on my 2023 Sierra Denali Ultimate. Makes no sense to me. Had I known that, I may not have put down a deposit on it. Just ridiculous.
Come to Florida,they have plenty of trucks! Just bought 23 1500 serra pickup.have tons Denali on lots.
Come on Chevy get your act together!! A year I’ve been trying to order an rst double cab 3.0!!!!
For a year the order cannot be accepted. A year!!! Obnoxious!!!
I’m guessing they don’t want my money. Canadian money is no good I guess. Repeated communication and calls to the make no difference whatsoever. My dealership in Thunder Bay can’t even give me an answer
In Dallas the Chevy dealerships are 100% stocked on inventory and sales are extremely slow. No ones buying until interest rates drop (likely years away) or prices come down. Even then, only the wealthy will likely buy. Get ready to see GM sales numbers drop like a rock.
This is a bunch of bulls#@*!! GM has thousands of SOLD and FLEET orders back logged but because they have not returned to normal pre-pandemic business practice of preferencing these orders, they’re stacking up stock inventories of “covid” configured trucks nobody wants. If they would just preference sold and fleet orders as before, this problem would go away..