General Motors plants stop work

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General Motors, parent company of Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick, said it was temporarily halting production at several of its North American factories as a result of the global chip shortage. Eight plants in the US, Canada and Mexico are shut down for several weeks while GM goes foraging for a supply of chips. This work stoppage will affect SUVs, GM’s most sought-after vehicles. This is the second instance of temporary closures due to the chip situation. The auto manufacturer — North America’s largest — had shut down a few centers for two weeks in April.

GM isn’t alone in the struggle with the global chip shortage. Practically all car makers have had to cut production and temporarily shut their doors in response to this challenge, including Volkswagen, Ford and Toyota and even Tesla, who’s rewriting its vehicles’ software to support alternative components. GM didn’t shirk from revealing that the chip shortage and ensuing production cuts would cost between US$ 1.5 and 2 billion in profits for this year, before taxes.

⇨ The Verge, Andrew J. Hawkins, “GM temporarily shuts down North American factories because of chip shortage.”

2021-09-02