Photo = Reuters
The shortage of automotive semiconductors is deepening the global automotive industry’s hardships. Automakers that have not secured semiconductor stocks are subsequently reducing vehicle production or shutting down factories.
According to CNBC in the United States on the 24th (local time), the General Motors (GM) Missouri plant will be suspended from the 29th to the 12th of next month due to a lack of semiconductors for vehicles.
However, only GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado, which are pickup trucks made at the Missouri plant, will be discontinued. The company emphasized that production of vans will continue.
GM also decided to shorten the shutdown period in the second half of the Missouri plant by two weeks ahead of schedule. Accordingly, the suspension period will be adjusted from May 24th to July 19th. This is a measure to focus on the production of lucrative full-size pickup trucks and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) from insufficient automotive semiconductors.
GM spokesman David Banas said: “GM will continue to use all available semiconductors to assemble the most popular and demanding products,” he said. “There is no downtime or production cuts in full-size truck factories.”
GM has previously closed its factories several times or reduced production due to a lack of automotive semiconductors. The Kansas plant in the US and the Ingersoll plant in Canada were shut down at the beginning of last month, but are expected to remain shut down until mid-next month. It is reported that the Brazil plant and the Bupyeong plant in Korea are also under the influence of semiconductor supply and demand.
Not only GM, but also major automakers such as Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Honda are closing some factories or starting to cut production. Hyundai Motor Company and Kia have no plans to cut production yet, but the Financial Times (FT) reported that they could face production disruption from next month right away.
According to consulting firm Alix Partners, the global automobile industry is expected to experience a decrease in sales of $60.6 billion (about 69 trillion won) this year due to a shortage of semiconductors.
Shin Hyun-ah, Hankyung.com reporter
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