WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After resisting for almost a year, General Motors (GM) succumbed to the ongoing global semiconductor crisis, as the company on Thursday announced a series of production cuts that will take place in the upcoming days.
A memo sent to the factory union members by the Detroit Free Press, verified by the company, confirmed that there will be 'adjustments' made in its North American facilities from Monday, July 26.
The company's heavy-duty trucks, Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra will see major production alterations in the coming weeks. Michigan's The Flint Assembly, which primarily produces heavy-duty trucks, will have just one shift per week till August 2. The Fort Wayne Assembly in Indiana, the production house of the Silverados and Sierras is supposed to remain closed for the week. The light-duty truck-making facility in Silao, Mexico will also operate with one shift per week for the same time period.
The company has done its best to continue productions with an importance-basis treatment of making the rest of the vehicle without the chip till now. The less-important features which require chipsets, like the wireless charging docks, were omitted to continue with the productions. Last week, the company had to halt its operation in four other plants that build SUVs.
'The global semiconductor shortage remains complex and very fluid, but GM's global purchasing and supply chain, engineering and manufacturing teams continue to find creative solutions and make strides working with the supply base to minimize the impact to our highest-demand and capacity-constrained vehicles, including full-size trucks and SUVs for our customers,' said the company.
General Motors plant in Ontario was supposed to resume operations on July 26, but the continued crisis of semiconductors across the planet has made the company push its date to August 16.
A spokesman for the company said, 'These most recent scheduling adjustments are being driven by temporary parts shortages caused by semiconductor supply constraints from international markets experiencing Covid-19-related restrictions. We expect it to be a near-term issue.'
However, on the bright side, GM announced on Thursday that the company is going to enter the electric market with its new-age electric trucks that will rival the Tesla Cybertruck. The CEO of the company, Duncan Aldred said, 'I'm very confident GMC will be a big winner in this space. I think we're already showing our excellence in terms of electrification - we've done that through Hummer EV.'
The company plans to launch 30 new EVs by 2025 and by 2035, the entire combustion engine line-up is planned to be retired.
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