Detroit Three to meet with White House as chip shortage forces more production cuts
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Apr. 9—DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley and General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra are expected to meet with top White House officials Monday to discuss the lengthening semiconductor chip shortage, according to two sources familiar with the details.
Farley, Barra and executives from around a dozen other major companies — including Stellantis NV and chip manufacturers — are scheduled to attend the meeting with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The discussion is intended to explore ways to strengthen the U.S. supply chain for semiconductors.
Plans for the meeting come as GM on Friday confirmed it will be running plants during its typical summer shutdown weeks to meet demand, as well as cancelling some overtime in key U.S. plants building profit-rich pickups.
The Detroit automaker will operate all of its U.S. assembly plants, except its midsize truck plant in Wentzville, Missouri, during the weeks of June 28 and July 5 to keep up with high demand for products while the chip shortage continues. GM's Wentzville plant will have the downtime during this period for a new model changeover.
Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it would run all of its U.S. plants during the typical summer shutdown except Louisville Assembly, where the Ford Escape, Lincoln Corsair are built. Stellantis NV, maker of Jeep SUVs and Ram trucks, hasn't confirmed whether any of its plants will continue to operate during summer shutdowns.
Automakers have been battling the chip shortage since the start of the year. The global shortage analysts predict has cost 1.4 million vehicles of production globally and the industry billions of dollars.
On Thursday, GM and Ford announced additional plants that would have to take downtime because of the shortage. GM has been aiming to protect its profit-rich full-size SUV and truck plants. On Friday, though, GM confirmed it had to cancel overtime shifts at both its Fort Wayne, Indiana, light-duty truck plant and its Flint heavy-duty plant.
"As we continue to manage the semiconductor impact on our plants, we are balancing parts availability with our ability to run efficiently for the entire week," spokesman David Barnas said in a statement.
GM made the following changes to weekend production at the plants:
— Canceled scheduled overtime production for this Saturday, April 10 at Ft. Wayne Assembly
— Canceled overtime production for this Saturday, April 10; Sunday, April 11; and 3rd shift this evening (April 9) at Flint Assembly
Barnas said GM continues "to leverage every available semiconductor to build and ship our most popular and in-demand products, including full-size trucks and SUVs for our customers."
Twitter: @bykaleahall
