I’m seeing stops production of the F-150 at its plant in Dearborn, Michigan, from Friday to Sunday, before resuming Monday, while Chrysler is closing the production of minivans for four whole weeks at his factory in Windsor, Canada, both apparently due global chip deficit. Expect more chaos.
As Raph noted this morning, the F-150 is Ford’s largest cash cow. Without the F-150, Ford is just a mediocre SUV company that also sells Mustangs. Pacifica is much less important to Stellantis than Ford sold 787,422 F-Series trucks last year, while Chrysler sold 93,802 Pacific.
But what really proves is that this lack of chips seems to be equal opportunities, probably to the regret of car manufacturers who might have thought at one point that the worst pandemic is behind them.
Car news reported several Fridays on the misery in Canada, where a union said the four-week stoppage of production would begin on March 29:
General Motors Canada on Wednesday confirmed its CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, will remain empty until at least mid-April. The Chevrolet Equinox is assembled there.
The Ford plant in Oakville, Ontario, partially assembles Ford Edge vehicles and stores them in batches until the necessary microchips arrive to complete them.
The Windsor Star reported Friday that the Ford Essex engine plant in Windsor, Ontario, will fall on April 16th.
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The factory produces engines for the F-series pickups, Mustangs and E-series commercial trucks, and Ford on Friday gave up production of the F-150 for three days in a factory in Michigan.
Meanwhile, Honda Canada would only say that its factory in Alliston, Ontario, which builds Civic, has been affected.
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When we started it all, I assumed that automakers would continue to produce the most profitable products and stop supplying semiconductors to other less profitable products, but if the lack of chips affects the production of cars like the Chevy Equinox and Ford Edge, on the top of the F-150, which cuts into the bone.
However, according to a report from Cox Automotive on Wednesday, production disruptions may not have much effect in the short term for consumers, as stocks for many cars and some trucks have remained healthy enough. The F-150, for example, has a 65-day stock, or just slightly less than the industry average of 71, while the Ram 1500 Classic also affected by the lack of chips, has a supply of 136 days. In a month or two we will analyze the actual damage.