Just like the second-best song by the Carpenters, General Motors has only just begun producing the new Bolt and Bolt EUV, but already it has to shut down production thanks to the global semiconductor shortage, according to a report Thursday by Automotive News.
The General has heretofore been able to avoid interruptions to EV production at its Orion plant, but now the Bolt is suffering the same fate as many other vehicles in the GM family, though interestingly not the Hummer EV or the Cadillac Lyriq, with the former set to launch later this year and the latter slated for an early 2022 launch.
According to GM, the Orion plant shutdown will last just a week -- from Aug. 24 to Aug. 30-- but that's likely enough to cause all kinds of disruptions later down the road. According to GM representatives, GM is scaling back production at a number of other facilities in addition to the Orion plant:
Lansing Delta Township Assembly (Michigan), which builds the Chevrolet Traverse and the Buick Enclave, will all add an additional two weeks of downtime during the weeks of Aug. 23 and Aug. 30. This plant had been scheduled to resume production Monday, August 16th, and has been down since Monday, July 19th.
Spring Hill Assembly (Tennessee), which builds the Cadillac XT5, Cadillac XT6 and GMC Acadia, will take two weeks of downtime the weeks of August 23rd and August 30th. We expect Spring Hill to resume production the week of September 6th.
Ramos Assembly (Mexico) will take two weeks of downtime for Chevrolet Blazer production for the weeks of August 23rd and August 30th. In addition, the plant will add an additional two weeks of downtime for Chevrolet Equinox production the weeks of September 6th and September 13th. Equinox production has been down since August 16th.
CAMI Assembly (Canada) and San Luis Potosi Assembly (Mexico) will add an additional two weeks of downtime for the weeks of September 6th and September 13th. San Luis Potosi builds the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain. CAMI builds the Chevrolet Equinox.
Lansing Grand River Assembly (Michigan) will continue to take downtime for Cadillac CT4 and CT5 production through the week of September 13th. CT4 and CT5 production has been down since May 10th and had been expected to resume production August 30th, but is now expected to continue production in the week of September 20th.
The Bolt production stoppage is a bummer, especially when combined with GM's other recent announcement that it would be replacing the faulty battery modules in many 2017-2022 Bolt EVs at the cost of over $1 billion.
