Steel Markets

Chip Shortage Update: Ford, Chrysler See Downtime

Written by David Schollaert

February 6, 2022

Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis N.V. – Chrysler’s European parent company – are temporarily halting or have recently halted production at some assembly plants because of the continuing global microchip shortage.

AutoAssembly2Ford will idle production at its Chicago Assembly Plant and its Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich., from Feb. 3-13. The downtime will impact production of the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker’s Explorer, Ranger, Bronco, and Lincoln Aviator assembly lines, a company spokesperson said.

Pacifica minivan production at Chrysler’s Windsor, Ontario, assembly plant saw downtime Feb. 3-4 due to the chip shortage. That comes following a week-long stoppage at the plant on Jan. 24.

It wasn’t all bad news for North American automakers. General Motors, the largest domestic automaker, resumed assembly at its plants in Kansas City, Kan., and in Coahuila, Mexico, on Jan. 31. The Detroit-based automaker said there were no additional chip-related production disruptions.

“Currently, GM is not taking any downtime nor experiencing shift reductions at any of its North America assembly plants due to the global semiconductor shortages,” a company spokeswoman said.

And several of GM’s North American assembly plants are scheduled to run weekend overtime shifts in February. The added shifts include plants that make GM’s full-size trucks and SUVs.

Toyota, Nissan and Daimler all reported steady production. Honda again referred SMU to a stock statement that provides little operational detail.

By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com

 

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is deputy editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. He can be contacted at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.

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