By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Stocks of Ford Motor (NYSE:F) and General Motors (NYSE:GM) traded 1% and 0.6% higher, respectively, in Friday’s premarket, shrugging off decisions by the companies to halt production at their Michigan factories.
Ford will suspend production at its Flat Rock Assembly Plant next week, where it builds the Mustang, due to the global semiconductor shortage.
GM is canceling production at its Lansing Grand River Assembly. The company said the production halt is not related to chips. It provided no other specifics. The plant makes Cadillac CT4, Cadillac CT5, and Chevrolet Camaro, GM said.
Chips shortage had forced Ford to halt output at its Kansas City Assembly Plant last month, forcing the company to warn vehicle volumes in the current quarter will decline.
According to a previous GM communication, Monday onward, the company will halt production for two weeks at its assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana due to a shortage of semiconductor chips. The unit makes the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 pickup trucks, according to Reuters.
Shortage of parts, particularly semiconductor chips, has been the bane of most automakers for more than a year as capacities have competed to meet demand from end-users like makers of mobiles, laptops, cars, cameras, washing machines, among other gadgets.
The pandemic-induced lockdowns have played havoc with production schedules at factories in Asia, mostly China, Vietnam, and South East Asia. Shortage of labor and congested ports have all added to delays in deliveries.