Steel Markets
Honda Takes Chip-Related Outage; Stellantis, Summer Downtime
Written by David Schollaert
July 28, 2022
American Honda Motor Co., Honda’s North American subsidiary, has paused some production at three assembly plants this week because of the ongoing parts and microchip shortages, a company spokesperson told Steel Market Update (SMU).
Honda’s Greensburg, Ind., assembly plant, Marysville Auto Plant Line 1 in Ohio, and Honda Canada Manufacturing Plant Line 2 in Alliston, Ontario, have all suspended production for the week of July 25.
Honda said it continues to manage supply chain issues related to several factors including Covid, port congestion and the microchip shortage. “Our purchasing and production teams continue to carefully manage the available supply of parts to run production and meet the needs of our customers.”
The disruption will impact a wide range of vehicles, including the Honda Accord, sedan and hybrid, Honda Civic, and CR-V crossover SUV as well as the Insight Sedan, and Acura’s TLX and ILX models.
In addition to the outages, the spokesperson noted that other North American operations have adjusted production this week based on parts supply availability. “But as this is a fluid situation, we are unable to provide specific facility or model information,” they said.
Stellantis – Chrysler’s European parent company – said planned summer outages for maintenance programs, facility updates, and model-year changeovers are still underway at a few assembly plants. Those include:
- Toledo Assembly Complex (Ohio) – down the week of July 25
- Toluca Assembly Plant (Mexico) – down the week of August 8
- Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (Michigan) – down the week of August 22
The carmaker said that powertrain, stamping, and component plants will align work patterns to support assembly production schedules.
By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com
David Schollaert
Read more from David SchollaertLatest in Steel Markets
GrafTech’s Q2 loss widens in ‘challenging’ business environment
GrafTech cited a “challenging” part of the business cycle as its net loss widened in the second quarter.
CRU: Poor steel margins continue to push down raw material prices
Both iron ore and coking coal prices fell this week because of resistance from buyers. Iron ore prices have continued to fall throughout the past week, following sharp declines in steel prices in China, given no new policy announcement from the ‘Third Plenum’ meeting.
Op-Ed: The myth of the Mexican steel surge
We have heard ominous warnings about a flood of Mexican steel threatening the US market. It's the kind of rhetoric that gets thrown around often with little regard for the facts. The reality is that the Mexican steel surge is simply not happening, and the US steel industry has consistently maintained a significant trade surplus in finished products with Mexico. In 2023 alone, this surplus exceeded $3 billion.
CRU: Demand weakness continues to weigh on global sheet markets
Demand has remained persistently weak across the globe for sheet steel, weighing on prices. US HR coil prices fell the furthest this week as high-volume, low-priced deals were transacted as mills looked to fill order books and competed with one another amid relative demand weakness. Meanwhile, European prices were also down due to low demand […]
Influx of coated products fuels recent import surge
Steel imports fell back in May from April’s recent high but remained elevated compared to the levels seen over the past year. A deeper dive into the data confirms what SMU has been hearing from sources: Coated sheet is driving the recent rise in overall import levels.