Ford halts F-150 production in Missouri, while GM pauses EV assembly

Ford Motor Co. will halt F-150 pickup truck production next week at its Kansas City Assembly Plant in Missouri and General Motors Co. is halting assembly of its all-electric Chevrolet Bolt because of the continuing global semiconductor shortage.

The scarcity of microchips used in consumer electronics, including vehicles' assisted driving functions, emissions controls, infotainment and more, has wreaked havoc on automotive assembly over the course of the year. Toyota Motor Corp. on Thursday said it is scaling production back 40% as surging COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia constrain part supplies.

And Volkswagen AG told Reuters it may have to reduce production in response to tight supply during the third quarter, though it expects conditions to improve before the end of the year.

Ford cited worsening pandemic conditions in Malaysia, where some chips are sourced, for the halted production. A Saturday super shift at Kansas City plant has been canceled for F-150 production, and it won't resume until Aug. 30. Transit van production will continue. F-150 production in Dearborn remains unaffected.

The latest impacts on GM's production do not hit its profit-heavy trucks or full-size SUVs, which it has aimed to protect from the shortage.

Electric vehicle production at Orion Assembly in Lake Orion, however, will be down for the next week. It builds the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV.

Other plants also are affected. Lansing Delta Township Assembly, home of the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave, adds downtime the weeks of Aug. 23 and Aug. 30. It is expected to resume production the week of Sept. 6 after being down since July 19.

Cadillac CT4 and CT5 production at Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant will be down through the week of Sept. 13. It's been halted since May 10 and is expected to resume Sept. 20. Assembly of the Chevrolet Camaro remains running there, and the plant also supports limited Cadillac Black Wing production.

Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee will take downtime the weeks of Aug. 23 and Aug. 30. Production of the Cadillac XT5, Cadillac XT6 and GMC Acadia is expected to resume Sept. 6.

CAMI Assembly in Canada and San Luis Potosi Assembly in Mexico will add downtime for the weeks of Sept. 6 and Sept. 13. They could resume Sept. 20. San Luis Potosi builds the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain. CAMI also builds the Equinox.

There will be downtime for Chevrolet Blazer production at Ramos Assembly in Mexico for the weeks of Aug. 23 and Aug. 30 with production set to resume Sept. 6. There also will be additional downtime for the Chevrolet Equinox the weeks of Sept. 6 and Sept. 13. Production could resume Sept. 20 after it halted Monday.

"These most recent scheduling adjustments are being driven by temporary parts shortages caused by semiconductor supply constraints from international markets experiencing COVID 19-related restrictions," GM spokesman Dave Barnas said in a statement.

"Although the situation remains complex and very fluid, we haven’t taken any full-size SUV production downtime due to the global shortage of semiconductors and have taken minimal downtime at our full-size pickup truck plants. We remain confident in our team’s ability to continue finding creative solutions to minimize the impact on our highest-demand and capacity-constrained vehicles.”

Stellantis NV on Thursday did not have an update on the impact of future production. All its North American plants were running this week. All three of Detroit's automakers expect the shortages to persist into 2022 but are optimistic the worst of the situation is behind them.

bnoble@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @BreanaCNoble