GM cut US production, alleging a shortage of chips

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (Reuters) – General Motors Co. (GM.N) will cut production at most U.S. assembly plants this month due to ongoing shortage of semiconductor chips, which will affect its profitability trucks and sport utility vehicles, he said Thursday.

The largest U.S. automaker will stop production next week at its Fort Wayne plant in Indiana and its Silao plant in Mexico, both of which make trucks. In all, GM is cutting production at eight U.S. assembly plants in September.

The huge shortage of chips in the industry is causing massive cuts in car production around the world.

Earlier this week, Ford Motor Co. said it will also reduce truck production next week due to chip shortages, while Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said last month that it will reduce production September 40% compared to its previous plan.

GM will stop production at the Wentzville, Missouri plant for two weeks starting Sept. 6, which builds medium-sized trucks and full-size vans. GM will also stop production at the CAMI Assembly in Canada and the San Luis Potosí Assembly in Mexico for an additional two weeks. The company is building its Equinox SUV on both floors.

The automaker also keeps production for two more weeks at the stop at the Lansing Delta Township plant, which builds the Chevrolet Traverse and the Buick interlock.

The GM plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, will reduce production by two weeks in September to build the GMC Acadia, Cadillac XT5 and Cadillac XT6, while the Ramos, Mexico plant will take an additional two weeks to shut down production. Blazer, while the production of the equinox will be reduced until the week of September 27.

The production of the equinox has been declining since 16 August.

GM said during production downtime it will repair and ship unfinished vehicles from many affected plants, including Fort Wayne and Silao.

Report by David Shepardson Edited by David Goodman and David Evans

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