Ford, GM and Toyota Plants Lose Shifts Due to Storm

Ford, GM and Toyota Plants Lose Shifts Due to Winter Storm

Skylar Woodhouse

17 Feb 2021, 05:34 AM IST

(Bloomberg) -- Several automakers, including General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., were forced to idle production at U.S. plants in the center of the country as a winter weather pattern caused power outages and other disruptions.

GM canceled the first and second shifts Tuesday at its factory in Arlington, Texas, after shutting down Monday due to rolling blackouts and workers having difficulty getting to the facility in the snowstorm.

The plant makes large, profit-rich sport utility vehicles such as the Chevrolet Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade. GM had vowed to keep production steady at its SUV and truck factories amid a semiconductor shortage that has forced it to cut output at other plants.

The automaker has also canceled two shifts at an SUV plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, home to the Cadillac XT5 and XT6 and the GMC Acadia, and a pickup-truck facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana, known for making the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado. The first shift at its Corvette factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky, has also been canceled.

GM will decide whether to run a third shift at Arlington, Fort Wayne and Spring Hill later Tuesday, a spokesman said.

Ford shut factories in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio, plus one Mexican assembly plant, due to the storm. Additional plants in Chicago, Oakville, Ontario, and Dearborn, Michigan, were idled Tuesday morning, but were expected to be running for the afternoon shift, the company said in a statement.

At the Claycomo, Missouri, factory making Ford’s bestselling F-150 pickup, the automaker halted production for a week due to a shortage of natural gas in the area. The company aims to restart the plant Feb. 22.

Stellantis NV suspended production on the day shift at the Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio, which makes the Jeep Gladiator and Wrangler.

Toyota said weather issues forced it to suspend the first and second shifts Tuesday at plants in Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Texas; a West Virginia plant suspended first shift only. The Japanese automaker’s factory in San Antonio was hurt by a loss of power and water but it had already been scheduled to skip the first shift due to an unrelated computer-chip shortfall, a spokesman said.

Nissan Motor Co. said morning and afternoon shifts wouldn’t run Tuesday at its assembly plants in Canton, Mississippi, and Smyrna, Tennessee .

Honda Motor Co. delayed first-shift and canceled second-shift production Tuesday in Lincoln, Alabama. Honda’s Indiana plant canceled first-shift production and planned to resume on the second shift; the same plan held true in Ohio for the automaker’s plants in Marysville, East Liberty and Anna, as well as its Performance Manufacturing Center and Honda Transmission Manufacturing facility.

Daimler Trucks North America has closed parts-distribution centers in Dallas and Memphis, a spokesperson said. Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama,has also “adapted its operational program.”

Volkswagen AG said the company will have a “temporary partial” suspension of production Wednesday in Chattanooga, Tennessee, because of weather and supply-chain impacts.