GM resumes production in four car factories despite chip shortages

General Motors plans to restart car production in four of its factories in the coming month. The automotive sector is dealing with chip shortages, but the restart is seen as a signal that improvement is imminent.

GM announced on Thursday that it will restart production of its San Luis Potosi Assembly in Mexico. That factory was closed for two weeks due to chip shortages. The company is also restarting its Mexican Ramos Assembly factory, which was closed from May 3. In addition, General Motors will reopen its Ontario plant on June 14. This facility has been shut down since February 8. In addition, GM announced that it will reopen its Lansing Grand River plant, where it assembles the Chevrolet Camaro, on June 21.

Several GM factories remain inactive for longer, such as Fairfax Assembly in Kansas, which has been out of operation since February and will remain so until at least early July. Still, analysts see the reopenings as a positive signal, Detroit News writes . The question is what the production numbers will be, because GM does not disclose anything about that. There is also no clarity about how many chips GM has received. “We are still awaiting confirmation that a reasonable stream of chips for everyone, or even someone, has started,” said analyst firm AutoForecast Solutions.

The expectation was that real improvement with the chip supply would not be visible until the end of the third quarter. The global auto industry has been severely hampered by chip shortages for months, and estimates by consultancy firm AlixPartners about the damage from deferment of production amount to $ 110 billion. The consequences are also noticeable in the Netherlands. VDL Nedcar briefly stopped production at the beginning of May .