Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday confirmed a new round of production cuts at several of its plants in North America amid an ongoing semiconductor chip shortage that has hit auto production worldwide.
The latest production changes are:
- Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant — which builds the Ford Explorer, Police Interceptor Utility and Lincoln Aviator — will be down the week of May 31 and will operate on a reduced schedule the week of June 7.
- Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan, which builds Mustangs, will be down the weeks of May 31 and June 7.
- The truck lines at Dearborn Truck Plant and Kansas City Assembly Plant will be down the weeks of May 31 and June 7 and will operate on a reduced schedule the week of June 14. Both plants build the F-150 pickup truck, Ford’s cash cow.
- Hermosillo Assembly Plant in Mexico, which builds the Bronco Sport, will be down the weeks of June 21 and June 28.
- Louisville Assembly Plant, which builds the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair, will be down starting the week of May 31, through the week of June 28.
- Oakville Assembly Complex in Canada, which makes the Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus, will be down the week of May 31 through the week of June 21.
- Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake will make only Super Duty Chassis cabs and Medium Duty trucks the weeks of May 31, June 7 and June 14.
“Our teams continue making the most of our available semiconductor allocation and will continue finding unique solutions to provide as many high-quality vehicles as possible to our dealers and customers,” spokesperson Kelli Felker said in a statement.
Earlier this week, Ford confirmed it was bringing the three-shift operation at Dearborn Truck down to one shift next week. And, among other production impacts confirmed recently, the automaker said its Kansas City plant in Missouri would be down this week and next.
Ford has said the shortage of the vital components — which are needed for everything from infotainment systems to power steering — could result in 1.1 million units of lost vehicle production and a $2.5 billion hit to the automaker’s adjusted earnings for the year.
The crisis is affecting the entire industry to varying degrees. Last week, consulting firm AlixPartners revised its forecast on the impact of the shortage, saying it now expects the issue could cost global automakers $110 billion in revenue this year — up from the $61 billion the firm estimated in January. And the firm now expects a production loss of 3.9 million vehicles globally, representing a little more than 4.5% of the vehicles automakers planned to build this year.
General Motors Co. had no new production cutbacks to share Wednesday, but said in late April that, among other impacts, its Fairfax Assembly in Kansas, where the Cadillac XT4 and Chevrolet Malibu are built, would remain down through at least the week of July 5. The plant has been down since early February.
And Stellantis NV said last week that it would cut almost 1,700 jobs at its Jeep Cherokee plant in Illinois. The automaker is reducing shifts at Belvidere Assembly Plant from two to one by July 26.
jgrzelewski@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @JGrzelewski