Tenn. Nissan plant to close for 2 weeks due to chip shortage

Nissan says its immense mill successful Smyrna, Tennessee, volition adjacent for 2 weeks starting Monday owed to machine spot shortages brought connected by a coronavirus outbreak successful Malaysia.

The shutdown is among the longest astatine immoderate U.S. car works of this size since the semiconductor shortage, which has hobbled car accumulation worldwide, started to deed precocious past year.

Nissan said Tuesday that it ran abbreviated of chips owed to a COVID-19 outbreak astatine a chip mill successful Malaysia. It expects accumulation to resume Aug. 30.

The 6 million-square-foot Tennessee mill employs 6,700 radical and makes six Nissan models, including the Rogue tiny SUV, the company's top-selling U.S. vehicle.

Analysts accidental the closure of the ample Nissan mill for 2 weeks is simply a motion that the semiconductor shortage whitethorn not beryllium coming to an extremity precocious this twelvemonth arsenic galore car executives had hoped.

Few U.S. factories person been down for 2 weeks successful a row, and they usually are plants that marque lower-volume, less-profitable vehicles, specified arsenic sedans. Automakers person tried to conserve chips for plants that marque their apical sellers, mostly SUVs and pickup trucks. Although pickup motortruck plants person been unopen down sporadically arsenic well.

Guidehouse Research Principal Analyst Sam Abuelsamid said Smyrna is simply a important mill for Nissan and its shutdown is simply a motion that the extremity of the semiconductor shortage whitethorn not beryllium successful sight.

"It's looking similar it's going to agelong astatine slightest into the caller year," helium said.

With continuing COVID-19 outbreaks crossed the semiconductor proviso concatenation successful Asia and different regions, proviso problems whitethorn past adjacent longer than that, Abuelsamid said.

The shortage and works closures, coupled with beardown user request successful the U.S., person caused shortages of caller vehicles crossed the nation. That has driven up prices, and the shortage has spilled into the marketplace for utilized vehicles.

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