Ford production stops of F-150s at the Dearborn, Michigan plant Friday to Sunday before restarting Monday, while Chrysler stop the production of minivans for four full weeks at the factory in Windsor, Canada, both ostensibly because of the global shortage of chipsExpect more chaos.
As Raph pointed out this morning, the F-150 is Ford’s largest cash cowWithout the F-150, Ford is just a mediocre SUV company that also sells Mustangs. The Pacifica is of much less importance to Stellantis, just like Ford sold 787,422 F-series trucks last year, while Chrysler sold 93,802 Pacific.
But what that really shows is that this chip shortage is seemingly an equal opportunity, probably much to the chagrin of carmakers who at one point thought perhaps the worst of the pandemic was over.
Automotive News reported more on Friday on the mess in Canada, where a union said the four-week shutdown for minivan production would begin March 29:
General Motors Canada confirmed on Wednesday that its CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ont., Will remain inactive until at least mid-April. There the Chevrolet Equinox is put together.
Ford’s Oakville, Ont., Plant partially assembles and batches Ford Edge vehicles until the required microchips arrive to finish them.
The Windsor Star reported Friday that Ford’s Essex Engine Plant in Windsor, Ontario, will not be available on April 16.
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The plant makes engines for the F-Series pickup, Mustang and E-Series commercial vehicles, and Ford shut down production of the F-150 for three days at a Michigan plant on Friday.
Meanwhile, Honda Canada would just say its Alliston, Ont., Factory, which builds the Civic, has been hit.
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When all of this started, I had more or less assumed that automakers would keep the power to the most profitable products and cut off the supply of semiconductors to other products that are less profitable, but if the chip shortage would drive production of cars like the Chevy affects. Equinox and Ford Edge, on top of the F-150, that cuts into the bone.
Still, according to Wednesday a report from Cox Automotiveproduction stops may not have much effect on consumers in the short term, as stocks of many cars and some trucks remained healthy enough. For example, the F-150 has a stock of 65 days, or only slightly less than the industry average of 71, while the Ram 1500 Classic also affected by the shortage of chips, has a supply of 136 days. We will investigate the real damage in a month or two.