Ford is stopping production of F-150s at its plant in Dearborn, Michigan, Friday through Sunday, before resuming Monday, while Chrysler is stop the production of minivans for four whole weeks at his factory in Windsor, Canada, both apparently due to the global shortage of chips. Expect more chaos.
As Raph pointed out this morning, the F-150 is Ford’s largest cash cow. Without the F-150, Ford is just a mediocre SUV company that also sells Mustangs. The Pacifica is of much less importance to Stellantis, like Ford sold out 787,422 Series F trucks last year, while Chrysler sold out 93,802 Pacific.
But what it really proves is that this shortage of chips is apparently the same opportunity, probably to the displeasure of carmakers who might have thought at some point that the worst of the pandemic was behind it.
Automotive news reported more Friday to the disaster in Canada, where a union said the four-week minivan production shutdown would begin on March 29:
General Motors Canada confirmed on Wednesday that its CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, will remain inactive until at least mid-April. The Chevrolet Equinox is mounted there.
Ford’s Oakville, Ontario plant is partially assembling Ford Edge vehicles and storing them in batches until the necessary microchips arrive to finish them.
The Windsor Star reported Friday that Ford’s Essex engine plant in Windsor, Ontario, will fall on April 16th.
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The plant manufactures engines for the F-Series, Mustang and E-Series commercial vans, and Ford on Friday produced production of the F-150 for three days at a Michigan plant.
Meanwhile, Honda Canada would only say that its Alliston, Ontario factory, which builds the Civic, has been affected.
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I assumed, when it all started, that car manufacturers would keep the flow to their products more profitable and cut off the supply of semiconductors to other less profitable products, but if the shortage of chips affects car production like the Chevy The equinox and the Ford Edge, at the top of the F-150, cut to the bone.
Still, according to a Cox Automotive report Wednesday, production shutdowns may not have too much of a short-term effect on consumers, as inventories of many cars and some trucks remained healthy enough. The F-150, for example, has a 65-day inventory supply, or just a little less than the industry average of 71, while the Ram 1500 Classic, too. affected by chip shortages, has 136 days supply. In a month or two, we will analyze the actual damage.