Poised for Pickups: Mexican Restart Can't Come Soon Enough for GM

Production at General Motors’ Mexican assembly plants could start up next week, following a go-ahead from the country’s leadership to resume factory activity. The faster GM’s able to come back online south of the Rio Grande, the better.

In an earnings briefing last week, GM, like its rival Fiat Chrysler, pointed to a declining inventory of lucrative pickups — a segment that proved extremely resilient over the past two months, even during the depths of the coronavirus lockdown. With U.S. plants resuming work on Monday, a concurrent Mexican restart is what the company needs.

Sources tell Bloomberg that GM’s three Mexican plants could see production return next week, as long as the automaker meets conditions set by the government.

Mexico, much to the chagrin of UAW and Unifor, is a crucial manufacturing base for GM, which builds the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra at its Silao facility. Tied to that plant is a propulsion facility building V6 and V8 engines for light-duty trucks, commercial vehicles, and sports cars, as well as six-, eight- and 10-speed transmissions.

Out of the Ramoz Arizpe facility comes the Chevrolet Blazer midsize crossover, along with small-block V8s and High-Feature V6s. The automaker’s San Luis Potosi plant builds the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain compact crossovers (GM also builds the Equinox in Ontario, Canada), as well as six-speed automatics bound for FWD and AWD models.

GM’s Mexican output took a hit from last fall’s UAW strike, with the automaker forced to idle plants amid a parts shortage. That hampered pickup production. Then came the pandemic and March’s continent-wide production halt. Pickups continued to sell in strong numbers, however, draining a pool of trucks that couldn’t be replenished. In March, GM reported an 87 days’ supply of Silverado models.

With pickup sales already back to normal, GM’s half-ton cupboard must be getting close to bare.

[Images: General Motors]