GM to restart Mo. plant, limit or idle 6 N.A. factories this month

DETROIT — General Motors will restart production next week at its midsize-pickup plant in Wentzville, Mo., after a two-week hiatus because of the global microchip shortage, but the automaker plans to pause or limit production at six other North America plants this month.

"We continue to work closely with our supply base to find solutions for our suppliers' semiconductor requirements and to mitigate impact on GM. Our intent is to make up as much production lost at these plants as possible," GM said in a statement Thursday.

Last week, GM had only 334,628 vehicles on hand, compared with 668,443 a year earlier. Stock shrank by 76,247 during the first quarter, driven in part by the microchip shortage.

Starting Monday, GM will take two weeks of downtime at its Spring Hill, Tenn., assembly plant, which builds the Cadillac XT5 and XT6 and GMC Acadia crossovers.

Also starting Monday, the automaker will idle production of the Chevrolet Blazer crossover for one week at its plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico. Equinox production at the Ramos Arizpe plant will not be affected, GM said.

Both of the automaker's Lansing, Mich., plants will take downtime this month.

Lansing Delta Township Assembly, which builds the Buick Enclave and Chevy Traverse crossovers, will halt production for one week starting April 19, while Lansing Grand River, which has been down since March 15, will extend its production stoppage through the week of April 26. Lansing Grand River builds the Chevy Camaro and Cadillac CT4 and CT5 sedans.

CAMI Assembly in Ingersoll, Ontario, and Fairfax Assembly in Kansas City, Kan., will extend downtime through the week of May 10. Both plants have been down since the week of Feb. 8.

GM has continued production and regular shifts at its full-size pickup or SUV plants throughout the chip crisis, but the automaker has resorted to building some pickups without certain modules.

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that U.S. Senate leaders are preparing to introduce legislation on semiconductors. The White House is set to hold a virtual summit on the issue on Monday that is expected to include senior U.S. auto executives, including Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley and GM CEO Mary Barra.

Reuters contributed to this report.