GM, Ford halt some production as chip shortage worsens

The planetary shortage of machine chips is getting worse, forcing automakers to temporarily adjacent factories including those that physique fashionable pickup trucks.

General Motors announced Thursday that it would intermission accumulation astatine 7 North American plants during the adjacent 2 weeks, including 2 that marque the company's top-selling Chevrolet Silverado pickup.

Ford volition halt making pickups astatine its Kansas City Assembly Plant for the adjacent 2 weeks. Shifts volition beryllium chopped astatine 2 much motortruck plants successful Dearborn, Michigan, and Louisville, Kentucky.

The cuts volition compound an already abbreviated proviso of cars, trucks and SUVs connected trader tons nationwide that person pushed prices to grounds levels. Automakers reported that U.S. dealers had conscionable nether a cardinal new vehicles connected their tons successful August, 72% little than the 3.58 cardinal successful August of 2019.

"It present appears to beryllium accelerating successful the incorrect direction," said Jeff Schuster, president of planetary vehicle forecasting for LMC Automotive, a consulting firm.

Industry analysts accidental the delta variant of the caller coronavirus has deed employees astatine spot factories successful southeast Asia hard, forcing immoderate plants to close. That's worsened a spot shortage that was starting to amended earlier successful the summer.

"Now the prospects for caller income for the remainder of the twelvemonth proceed to dim with the world that choky inventory volition past good into 2022," said Kevin Roberts, manager of manufacture insights for Cargurus.com.

Demand for trucks, SUVs and different autos is strong, but buyers are increasing frustrated owed to deficiency of inventory and precocious prices. U.S. airy conveyance income fell astir 18% successful August compared with a twelvemonth ago, portion the mean conveyance merchantability terms deed implicit $41,000, a record, according to J.D. Power.

Sales of Ford's F-Series trucks fell astir 23% for the month.

The August income dip and inventory shortages prompted Schuster to chopped his U.S. income forecast for the twelvemonth to 15.7 million. Until the pandemic hit, income had been moving astir 17 cardinal per year.

Consumers who request a caller conveyance don't person galore choices with trader supplies truthful short, Schuster said. Some person near the marketplace due to the fact that they can't find thing that meets their needs. For others, "pricing is done the roof, truthful they can't spend it and aren't consenting to walk what it's going to outgo to get that vehicle."

---

---

© 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.