GM to halt production at nearly all North America assembly plants due to new chip problem

[TruckElectric]

GM to halt production at nearly all North America assembly plants due to new chip problem

General Motors will idle the plants starting Monday for two weeks due to COVID-19 affecting the production of semiconductor chips
Jamie L. LaReau


General Motors will idle nearly all its assembly plants in North America starting Monday as the COVID-19 pandemic affects production of semiconductor chips overseas.

GM said its Arlington Assembly in Texas, where it makes its highly profitable full-size SUVs, will run regular production next week, along with Flint Assembly, where it makes its heavy-duty pickups, Bowling Green Assembly in Kentucky, where it makes its Corvette, and a portion of Lansing Grand River Assembly, where it will make some Chevrolet Camaro and Cadillac Blackwing cars.

But all other assembly plants in North America will idle starting Monday.

"All the announcements we made today are related to the chips shortage, the only plant down that's not related to that, is Orion Assembly," said GM spokesman Dan Flores, referring to that plant's shutdown over Chevy Bolt recall issues.

The industry already has been experiencing a global shortage of the chips, used in a variety of car parts, since early this year. The chips are also used in small electronics and as more workers and children stayed home from work and school last year during the pandemic, demand for personal electronics, such as laptops, rose and created a shortage of chips.

Automakers have had to either temporarily idle production or build vehicles just shy of all the parts to await chip parts to finish production and ship the vehicles to showrooms. New car inventory has remained tight and prices high.

"COVID is driving supply constraints in countries that produce semiconductor chips," Flores said. "But I can't say if it's because employees have a high rate of infection or if it's the government putting restrictions on plants due to the pandemic."

Activity will continue in places like Fort Wayne Assembly and Silao Assembly in Mexico, where light-duty full-size pickups are made, even if production halts.

"During the downtime, we will repair and ship unfinished vehicles from many impacted plants, including Fort Wayne and Silao, to dealers to help meet the strong customer demand for our products," Flores said. "Although the situation remains complex and very fluid, we remain confident in our team’s ability to continue finding creative solutions to minimize the impact on our highest-demand and capacity-constrained vehicles."

Here are the production changes GM is making at the affected plants:

• Fort Wayne and Silao Assembly plants to take a week of downtime starting Monday. GM expects to restart regular production Sept. 13.
• Wentzville Assembly in Missouri, where GM builds its Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups and Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans, will take downtime for two weeks starting Monday.
• CAMI Assembly (Canada) and San Luis Potosi Assembly (Mexico) will take two additional weeks of downtime through the week of Sept. 27. Production of the Chevrolet Equinox midsize SUV, which GM makes at both facilities, has been down since Aug. 16. San Luis Potosi also builds the GMC Terrain midsize SUV.
• Lansing Delta Township Assembly adds two weeks of downtime starting Monday. GM expects to resume production there the week of Sept. 20. GM makes the Chevrolet Traverse and the Buick Enclave midsize SUVs at Lansing Delta Township.
• Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee, where GM builds the GMC Acadia, Cadillac XT5 and Cadillac XT6 midsize SUVs, adds two weeks of downtime starting Monday. GM expects to restart production the week of Sept. 20.
• Ramos Assembly in Mexico will take two additional weeks of downtime for Chevrolet Blazer midsize SUV production through the week of Sept. 13. In addition, Equinox production will be down until Oct. 4. Production of the Chevrolet Equinox has been down since Aug. 16.

Flores said, "What we announced this morning is what we know now. I can't speculate if something will be announced next week or if there'll be additional impacts. We manage this on a day-to-day basis."


SOURCE: Detroit Free Press

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[TruckElectric]

GM to halt production at nearly all North America assembly plants due to new chip problem

General Motors will idle the plants starting Monday for two weeks due to COVID-19 affecting the production of semiconductor chips
Jamie L. LaReau


General Motors will idle nearly all its assembly plants in North America starting Monday as the COVID-19 pandemic affects production of semiconductor chips overseas.

GM said its Arlington Assembly in Texas, where it makes its highly profitable full-size SUVs, will run regular production next week, along with Flint Assembly, where it makes its heavy-duty pickups, Bowling Green Assembly in Kentucky, where it makes its Corvette, and a portion of Lansing Grand River Assembly, where it will make some Chevrolet Camaro and Cadillac Blackwing cars.

But all other assembly plants in North America will idle starting Monday.

"All the announcements we made today are related to the chips shortage, the only plant down that's not related to that, is Orion Assembly," said GM spokesman Dan Flores, referring to that plant's shutdown over Chevy Bolt recall issues.

The industry already has been experiencing a global shortage of the chips, used in a variety of car parts, since early this year. The chips are also used in small electronics and as more workers and children stayed home from work and school last year during the pandemic, demand for personal electronics, such as laptops, rose and created a shortage of chips.

Automakers have had to either temporarily idle production or build vehicles just shy of all the parts to await chip parts to finish production and ship the vehicles to showrooms. New car inventory has remained tight and prices high.

"COVID is driving supply constraints in countries that produce semiconductor chips," Flores said. "But I can't say if it's because employees have a high rate of infection or if it's the government putting restrictions on plants due to the pandemic."

Activity will continue in places like Fort Wayne Assembly and Silao Assembly in Mexico, where light-duty full-size pickups are made, even if production halts.

"During the downtime, we will repair and ship unfinished vehicles from many impacted plants, including Fort Wayne and Silao, to dealers to help meet the strong customer demand for our products," Flores said. "Although the situation remains complex and very fluid, we remain confident in our team’s ability to continue finding creative solutions to minimize the impact on our highest-demand and capacity-constrained vehicles."

Here are the production changes GM is making at the affected plants:

• Fort Wayne and Silao Assembly plants to take a week of downtime starting Monday. GM expects to restart regular production Sept. 13.
• Wentzville Assembly in Missouri, where GM builds its Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups and Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans, will take downtime for two weeks starting Monday.
• CAMI Assembly (Canada) and San Luis Potosi Assembly (Mexico) will take two additional weeks of downtime through the week of Sept. 27. Production of the Chevrolet Equinox midsize SUV, which GM makes at both facilities, has been down since Aug. 16. San Luis Potosi also builds the GMC Terrain midsize SUV.
• Lansing Delta Township Assembly adds two weeks of downtime starting Monday. GM expects to resume production there the week of Sept. 20. GM makes the Chevrolet Traverse and the Buick Enclave midsize SUVs at Lansing Delta Township.
• Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee, where GM builds the GMC Acadia, Cadillac XT5 and Cadillac XT6 midsize SUVs, adds two weeks of downtime starting Monday. GM expects to restart production the week of Sept. 20.
• Ramos Assembly in Mexico will take two additional weeks of downtime for Chevrolet Blazer midsize SUV production through the week of Sept. 13. In addition, Equinox production will be down until Oct. 4. Production of the Chevrolet Equinox has been down since Aug. 16.

Flores said, "What we announced this morning is what we know now. I can't speculate if something will be announced next week or if there'll be additional impacts. We manage this on a day-to-day basis."


SOURCE: Detroit Free Press

Ford’s U.S. sales decline 33% in August as chip shortage devastates auto industry
PUBLISHED THU, SEP 2 202112:18 PM EDT

Michael Wayland@MIKEWAYLAND


KEY POINTS

• Ford’s August sales of its new vehicles declined by 33.1% from a year earlier in the U.S. due to an ongoing global shortage of semiconductor chips.
• The Detroit automaker’s sales capped off a dismal month of U.S. auto sales, which plummeted to an adjusted selling rate of 13.09 million vehicles last month.
• That’s the worst pace since June 2020 and down from this year’s peak of 18.5 million in April, according to auto data firm Motor Intelligence.

DETROIT – U.S. sales of Ford Motor’s new vehicles last month declined by 33.1% from a year earlier due to an ongoing global shortage of semiconductor chips that’s wreaking havoc on the automotive industry, the company said Thursday.

The Detroit automaker’s sales capped off a dismal month of U.S. auto sales in August, which plummeted to an adjusted selling rate of 13.09 million vehicles. That’s the worst pace since June 2020 and down from this year’s peak of 18.5 million in April, according to auto data firm Motor Intelligence.

Analysts expected the August selling pace to be between 13.1 million to 14.4 million vehicles, with J.D. Power and LMC Automotive forecasting overall sales to decline by 13.7% compared to August 2020.

The sales pace for any given month measures how many cars the industry would sell for the year if it sold the same amount every month. It’s a main barometer of the industry’s health and demand.

August is historically one of the higher auto sales months of the year, but the chip shortage has caused vehicle inventory levels to plummet to record lows and pricing of new cars and trucks to skyrocket.

The Ford company logo is displayed on a sign outside of the Chicago Assembly Plant on February 03, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images

Dealers only have about 942,000 vehicles in inventory for retail sale, compared with roughly 3 million prior to the coronavirus pandemic two years ago, according to Thomas King, president of the data and analytics division at J.D. Power.

“Although inventory is arriving at dealers daily, it is simply replacing the vehicles being sold, preventing dealers from increasing inventories to a level necessary to support a higher sales pace,” King said.

While most major U.S. automakers have switched to quarterly sales reporting, several others that still report monthly sales such as Honda and Subaru also reported double-digit losses in August. Toyota, Volvo and Hyundai and Kia reported slight sales increases or losses compared with a year ago.

Sales of nearly every vehicle in Ford’s lineup were down last month compared with last year, with incremental sales gains from some new vehicles such as its Bronco SUVs. Most notably, Ford’s best-selling F-Series pickups declined by 22.5%.



Ford’s total sales last month topped 124,176 vehicles. Truck sales were down by nearly 30%, while SUVs were off by 25.3% and car sales fell by 86% from August 2020.

A silver lining for Ford last month was that its retail sales were up by 6.5% compared to July but still off by 33% from August 2020, according to Andrew Frick, vice president, Ford Sales U.S. and Canada.

Ford’s sales come a day after the automaker confirmed it was once again cutting production of its F-150 pickup truck and other highly profitable vehicles due to the ongoing global shortage of semiconductor chips.

The origin of the shortage dates to early last year when Covid caused rolling shutdowns of vehicle assembly plants. As the facilities closed, the wafer and chip suppliers diverted the parts to other sectors such as consumer electronics, which weren’t expected to be as hurt by stay-at-home orders.

The problem is expected to cost the global automotive industry $110 billion in revenue in 2021, according to consulting firm AlixPartners.


SOURCE: CNBC

 

[TruckElectric]

Daimler sees Q3 hit to Mercedes sales from chip shortage
By Victoria Waldersee

BERLIN, Sept 2 (Reuters) - German luxury carmaker Daimler (DAIGn.DE)said on Thursday it expected significantly lower third-quarter sales at its Mercedes unit due to a global semiconductor shortage, becoming the latest in a string of automakers to take a hit to revenues. Automakers from U.S. group General Motors (GM.N) to India's Mahindra (MAHM.NS) have slashed output and sales forecasts due to scarce chip supplies, made worse by a COVID-19 resurgence in key Asian semiconductor production hubs. read more

"With the plant closings at semiconductor suppliers in Malaysia and elsewhere, the challenge has now become even greater, so that our sales in the third quarter will probably be noticeably below the second quarter," Daimler CEO Ola Kaellenius told the Automobilwoche weekly in an interview.

Kaellenius did not specify how production would be affected by the shortage. The carmaker cut working hours in July at plants in Germany and Hungary because of lacking chip supply. Daimler was not immediately available for comment.

General Motors also said on Thursday chip shortages and COVID-19 restrictions were delaying production, with the company resorting to repairing and shipping unfinished vehicles to dealers.

Still, Kaellenius said he was confident Daimler was better prepared than before the pandemic for supply chain shocks. "We have made our business significantly more flexible and watertight," he said, adding customers were used to waiting for highly sought-after products.

Daimler has extended contracts on its leasing services to ease the concerns of customers waiting for their orders of new cars to arrive, the CEO said.

Daimler left its profit margin outlook for the year unchanged in July after reporting better-than-expected second quarter earnings. Like General Motors, it said at the time it was preparing unfinished vehicles as far as it could to be ready to slot in chips upon arrival. read more

Toyota (7203.T) said in September it was slashing production by 40% due to the lack of chips. Ford (F.N)reported on Wednesday it was cutting pickup truck production. Renault (RENA.PA) last week extended stoppages at three Spanish plants until the end of the year. read more


Consultants J.D. Power and LMC Automotive also warned last week that U.S. auto retail sales were likely to have fallen sharply in August, with dealers holding just 942,000 vehicles in inventory, down from 3 million two years ago. read more

Kaellenius refrained from predicting an end to the shortage, pointing out that supply strains such as the lockdowns in Malaysia were impossible to foresee. "What is important is that demand for cars is there," he said. "At some point the chip problem will also be solved."

Daimler is due to report third quarter earnings on Oct. 29.

Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Victoria Waldersee Editing by Kirsti Knolle, Mark Potter and Douglas Busvine


SOURCE:REUTERS

 

[TruckElectric]

Tesla’s China Output Halted for Days Last Month on Chip Shortage
Bloomberg News
September 2, 2021, 12:50 AM CDT

Tesla Inc. temporarily halted some operations at its factory in Shanghai last month, according to people familiar with the matter, as the global shortage of semiconductors hit the electric car pioneer in one of its most important markets.

Part of a production line at the China plant was halted for about four days in August because of a lack of key chips, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private.

One particular shortage had to do with the availability of electronic control units, small devices that control one or several electrical systems in a car, one of the people said. That caused output delays mainly for Tesla’s Model Y sports utility vehicle crossover, the person said. Production is now back to normal, the people said.

Representatives for Tesla in China didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Intense competition for chips has hit a raft of industries over the past year, with the pandemic both boosting demand for electronics and interrupting supply chains. With semiconductors now used in vehicle’s computers to sensors, automakers globally have lost revenue as shortages affected their output.


Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest carmaker, will cut production by 40% in September from previous plans, while India’s largest automaker by deliveries, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., has also said volumes will likely drop to about 40% from regular levels. On Wednesday, Chinese EV upstart and Tesla rival, Nio Inc., said it is struggling with getting supply from manufacturing partners in Malaysia, where Covid-19 is flaring again, and Nanjing, in eastern China.

In China, Tesla shipped around 33,000 electric cars locally and to overseas markets in July. The Palo Alto, California-based company previously halted some production at its car-assembly plant in the U.S. for about two weeks in February due to backlogs at ports and snow storms that affected ground transport.

Retail sales of cars, SUVs and multipurpose vehicles in China -- the world’s biggest market for electric cars -- declined by 6.4% in July from a year earlier to 1.52 million units, according to China’s Passenger Car Association. Preliminary data show August sales are expected to fall 13%, the association said Wednesday.


SOURCE: BLOOMBERG

 

[TruckElectric]

Nio and Xpeng deliveries fall in August as chip shortage hits China’s electric carmakers
PUBLISHED THU, SEP 2 20211:43 AM EDTUPDATED THU, SEP 2 20213:16 AM EDT

Arjun Kharpal

KEY POINTS

• Nio delivered 5,880 vehicles in August, down from 7,931 cars in July with the company blaming “uncertainty and volatility of semiconductor supply” as the global chip shortage continues.
• Xpeng said it delivered 7,214 vehicles in August, down from 8,040 in July as it transitioned manufacturing at one of its factories.
• Li Auto meanwhile said in August it delivered 9,433 units of its Li ONE car, the only model it has on the market. That’s up 9.8% from July.

GUANGZHOU, China — Nio and Xpeng deliveries dropped in August as the chip shortage and supply chain constraints hit the Chinese electric vehicle makers.

Li Auto was the only company out of the three to register month-on-month growth.

Nio delivered 5,880 vehicles in August, down from 7,931 cars in July. The company also cut its third-quarter delivery forecast on Wednesday from between 23,000 to 25,000 vehicles to between 22,500 to 23,500 units. Nio blamed the “uncertainty and volatility of semiconductor supply” as the global chip shortage continues.

Nio said, however, new orders reached an all-time high in August. The company’s shares closed 0.59% lower in the U.S. on Wednesday.

Xpeng said it delivered 7,214 vehicles in August, down from 8,040 in July. Xpeng’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell 5% in Thursday trade.

During the month, the company began to transition production for its G3 sports utility vehicle to the G3i, an updated version of the car, at its factory in Zhaoqing, south China.

“As a result, some planned deliveries of the G3 were affected in August. The Company expects to start deliveries of the G3i to start in September,” Xpeng said.

n an earnings call last month, Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng said that supply chain challenges like the semiconductor shortage remain the “biggest production hurdle” for the company.
The CEO also said he expects monthly delivery volume could reach 15,000 in the fourth quarter, which would be more than double August’s number.

Meanwhile, Li Auto said in August it delivered 9,433 units of its Li ONE car, the only model it has on the market. That’s up 9.8% from July.

The Hong Kong-listed shares of Li Auto were down 2% in afternoon trade on Thursday.
As of Aug. 31, Nio had delivered 55,767 cars, Xpeng had delivered 45,992 vehicles, and Li Auto had delivered 48,176 units.

The global chip shortage continues to hit automakers. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the company would be delaying deliveries of its new Roadster until 2023.


SOURCE: CNBC

 

[TruckElectric]

Chip shortage: Ford, Volvo exclude safety features from new cars
Some car makers are sacrificing safety and convenience features in order to maintain turnover amid semiconductor shortage


Some car manufacturers are building vehicles with fewer semiconductor chips in response to the worldwide shortage that has crippled the industry in recent months.

Two trim lines on Ford's Puma crossover, for example - Titanium and ST-Line - are now being offered alongside a cheaper ‘Design’ spec that uses fewer chips, but loses certain features as a result.

According to the latest price list, Design versions of the ST-Line go without high beam assistance, rear parking sensors, lane-keeping assistance, lane departure warning, pre-collision assistance with automatic emergency braking (AEB), pedestrian and cyclist detection, and post-collision braking.

There's also a Design edition of the EcoSport ST-Line that economises with several of those features.

Puma Design models are £900 and £1550 cheaper than the ST-Line and Titanium forms respectively, and a spokesperson for Ford has told Autocar that their reduced reliance on chips means customers can choose to receive their cars in a month or two, or wait longer for a fully equipped vehicle.

“The global semiconductor chip shortage has affected almost all vehicle manufacturers around the world, including Ford," said the spokesperson. "In order to meet the needs of our customers for Puma and EcoSport, Ford is realigning the content of a small volume of vehicles to mitigate the impact of the chip shortage."

The decision to reduce the number of chips in a popular model contrasts with other manufacturers that have opted to temporarily pause production altogetherin certain cases.

Meanwhile, the absence of AEB and lane-keeping assistance means that the Puma’s five-star Euro NCAP - awarded in 2019 - doesn’t apply to Design-designated cars.

“We’re aware of the situation,” said Matthew Avery, director of insurance research at Thatcham Research. “Ford, to give them their due, have been very responsible and contacted us because they recognise that they would be infringing the requirements for Euro NCAP without that equipment.

“We understand manufacturers are trying to shift metal and buyers are anxious for cars, but we wouldn’t want them to specify those vehicles. We would ask consumers to wait: when it comes to safety equipment, we think you should hold back because this technology may save your life.”

The Ford Puma retains its five-star Euro NCAP rating, but the car’s online listing makes it clear that “Pumas of ‘Design’ grade do not have all the safety features needed” to fulfil the car’s five-star status.

AEB and lane departure warning systems are set to become mandatory on new type approvals from May 2022: even if the shortage lasts beyond that date, Ford won’t be breaking these rules as the Puma - which is already type approved - won’t have to comply until May 2024.

Elsewhere, Volvo has confirmed that the shortage of semiconductors has forced it to scale back the features of its Driver Awareness pack on the XC60.

“This package contains BLIS (Blindspot Information System) with Steer Assist, CTA (Cross Traffic Alert) with Autobrake, and RCWM (Rear Collision Warning and Mitigation),” said a Volvo Car UK spokesperson. “The XC60’s high basic safety standard is not affected.

“These features do not have an impact on the safety rating – for example, the Euro NCAP rating – of our cars. The safety level of our cars is fully sufficient with the standard safety features."

Volvo is contacting customers who have specified the package to ask if they want to continue with their orders without the equipment, or wait until the kit becomes available once more.

The spokesperson added: “The semiconductor situation is very volatile, so we cannot provide a timing today for when these features will become available again, although we will keep our customers informed. We are working closely with our suppliers to minimise the impact on our customers.”

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/...e-ford-volvo-exclude-safety-features-new-cars

 

[Frank W]

130k is now reported as a “surge.”
https://electrek.co/2021/09/02/ford-f150-lightning-electric-pickup-reservations/

 

[Diehard]

130k is now reported as a “surge.”
https://electrek.co/2021/09/02/ford-f150-lightning-electric-pickup-reservations/

This is from the article:

“Now, Ford F150 Lightning reservations appear to have finally slowed down”

They are already talking about next generation in couple of years. If you don’t need something now, why would you get something the company is already telling you is not good enough. Slow down in orders is self inflicted. Which may be on purpose since they are still selling ice and may have supply issues.

 

[Ogre]

130k is now reported as a “surge.”
https://electrek.co/2021/09/02/ford-f150-lightning-electric-pickup-reservations/

According to Ford's own projections, it's going to take them 4 years to work through that backlog.

 

[DarinCT]

@TruckElectric that's a lot of articles for all the different companies.

Anything about Tesla US?

 

[Ogre]

@TruckElectric that's a lot of articles for all the different companies.

Anything about Tesla US?

He did post this in "General Automotive and Off-Topic Chat"

 

[firsttruck]

This is from the article:

“Now, Ford F150 Lightning reservations appear to have finally slowed down”

They are already talking about next generation in couple of years. If you don’t need something now, why would you get something the company is already telling you is not good enough. Slow down in orders is self inflicted. Which may be on purpose since they are still selling ice and may have supply issues.

A reason is that Ford is losing money on each Lightning Gen1s sold.
Ford is allocating a certain loss amount to get EV credits (not buy them from Tesla) but too many Lightning Gen1s sold would cut too much into profit from F-150 ICE.

 

[Crissa]

My friend who managed to score a '21 Bronco Sport this spring when he moved into the mountains was just offered $10K cash over what he paid for it. On the street.

-Crissa

 

[TruckElectric]

Anything about Tesla US?

Haven't seen anything yet.

 

[Diehard]

My friend who managed to score a '21 Bronco Sport this spring when he moved into the mountains was just offered $10K cash over what he paid for it. On the street.

-Crissa

Can you please share the name of that street?

I can sell the truck I bought 12 years ago for what I paid for it then. The convertible I purchased 6 years ago, goes for 90% over what I paid for it. I am not sure how much of it is car market going crazy, how much of it is inflation but I am afraid to sell anything until I buy something first.

Edit: They were both used when I got them.

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