Chip shortage not idling any GM plants come Nov. 1

Detroit — General Motors Co. will take its Silao, Mexico, truck plant down next week, but expects no plants to be down from the global chip shortage come Nov. 1. 

GM first started taking down plants in February as the effects of the shortage started to show. Throughout the year, the Detroit automaker has tried to protect its most profitable products — trucks and full-size SUVs — as it idled plants. 

The Silao plant where the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 are built will be down the week of Oct. 25 but production is expected to return Nov. 1.

“The scheduling adjustment is due to a temporary supply constraint caused by the global shortage of semiconductors," GM said in a statement. "However, this period will provide us with the opportunity to complete unfinished vehicles at the plant and ship those units to dealers to help meet the strong customer demand for our light-duty pickup trucks."

Some GM plants will still have missing shifts because of the shortage. 

San Luis Potosi Assembly in Mexico will resume production of the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain with just one shift on Nov. 1. San Luis Potosi has been down since July 19.

CAMI Assembly in Canada will resume one shift of production of the Equinox on Nov. 1. The plant has been down also since July 19.

Fairfax Assembly in Kansas will resume one shift of production for the Chevrolet Malibu on Nov. 1. Malibu production has been down since Feb. 8. Cadillac XT4 production at Fairfax resumed on Sept. 20.

GM will still have plants down completely that are not affected by the chip shortage.

Factory Zero Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center is down as it prepares for launch of the GMC Hummer EV pickup later this year. Orion Assembly in Lake Orion is down through next week as GM works through a recall on the plant's Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV products. Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee is also down as it prepares for EV production coming next year.

At Friday's Reuters Events Automotive Summit, Steve Carlisle, head of GM North America, said the automaker is more than halfway through a stock of trucks that were parked and waiting for chips due to the shortage. 

"We've made great progress on that," he said. 

"Our goal would be to clear out our '21 model years by the end of the year."

khall@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @bykaleahall