Two months after announcing a new investment for the factory, General Motors has just announced that it has halted production at the GM Gravataí plant in Brazil for almost a month.
The automaker’s Brazilian subsidiary announced a temporary production half at the GM Gravataí plant in the state of Rio Grande do Sul – where it exclusively manufactures the best-selling Chevy Onix, as part of the programming that will adapt the complex’s production lines to manufacture a new Chevrolet vehicle starting in 2026. In fact, the technical stoppage in Gravataí will last a total of 27 days, from September 16th to October 11th.
“General Motors is holding a technical shutdown at its Gravataí plant from September 16th to October 11th,” said GM Brazil Communications Department. “The measure is necessary to adapt the production line to the arrival of a new Chevrolet vehicle in 2026. During this period, the days when the factory is stopped will be considered days off for employees,” the company added.
In particular, the GM Gravataí plant’s month-long technical shutdown will serve to carry out work to adapt the complex to manufacture the upcoming Chevy Onix crossover – the company’s brand-new entry-level utility vehicle, as first reported by GM Authority in early 2023. The crossover variant of the vehicle will join the current Chevy Onix and Onix Plus that are manufactured at the Brazilian plant and will soon also receive a comprehensive update.
This new model is part of the 1.2 billion real (about 222 million dollars) investment that the company will make at the GM Gravataí plant between this year and early 2026, when mass production is scheduled to begin. Although GM Brazil has not officially confirmed it, the ‘Onix Crossover’ will use a variant of the existing GM GEM platform and expand the local product line in a booming segment.
Production lines at the GM Gravataí plant will be idled for the next few weeks, with factory activities set to resume on Friday, October 11th, according to the company’s official planning schedule. Following the shutdown, the factory will be ready to begin production of the refreshed Chevy Onix and Onix Plus that could debut early next year, as well as the aforementioned upcoming crossover variant.
Comments
Yawn article. Next.
Sell it here in the U.S. because it is American. Brazil is in South America and its cars are by GM , a U.S. brand. It can kill sales of Asian imports.
Mary Barra never claims GM is an American Company any longer….. Of course, perhaps she has wised up a bit (but doubtful), since they won’t make money in China ever again, and are just trying to finesse the current losses.
Brazil has its problem but is not an ‘American Country’, other than in a silly semantic sense. South America in general wants few dealings with the current US government, a sentiment I can appreciate.
As far as “Asian Imports” go, the stuff coming from Toyota’s Japanese factories are their highest quality products, but many Hondas are assembled in OHIO. I’m quite sure the US workers there appreciate their employment.
At least the Brazilians don’t have the threat of driving EV’s anytime soon. They are so lucky.