General Motors to Increase Truck Shipments Soon

A statement from General Motors suggests the chip shortage that has crippled vehicle production may be easing.

GM has said in a statement that it plans to increase Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra production by about 1,000 trucks a month, starting in mid-July.

The company credits production-line efficiencies at Flint Assembly with the uptick.

Meanwhile, the General is touting a 30,000 unit (total) increase in shipments of Chevy Colorados and GMC Canyons at Wentzville in Missouri from the middle of May until July 5 as it conducts testing on units that were held back by the semiconductor shortage.

The company says shipments of other vehicles should increase, and it also says no American assembly plants that were hit hard by supply disruptions will take any “dedicated” downtime for vacation.

Consequently, GM also expects better first-half financial results than it had originally forecast.

“The global semiconductor shortage remains complex and very fluid, but the speed, agility and commitment of our team, including our dealers, has helped us find creative ways to satisfy customers,” said Phil Kienle, GM vice president, North America Manufacturing and Labor Relations, in the statement. “Customer demand continues to be very strong, and GM’s engineering, supply chain and manufacturing teams have done a remarkable job maximizing production of high-demand and capacity-constrained vehicles.”

GM will have a call to discuss second-quarter results on August 4.

First COVID, then chips. Maybe this time the automakers really will be past all the obstacles that caused production delays.

Or maybe all those UFO sightings will really be the result of aliens and we’ll be right back where we started. “What else can go wrong” does seem to the theme of the past year and a half, after all.

[Image: GM]