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GM has 10,000 full-sized SUVs parked in Texas awaiting chips

3420 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  BigJonEV
To give you an idea for how bad the chip shortage is getting for GM, apparently their SUV backlog has reached more than 10,000 units that are parked around Arlington and Midlothian, Texas.

Back in May it was reported that there were 30,000 full-sized and mid-sized pickups parked in the U.S. Midwest and in Mexico.


Earlier this year, we marveled here on the ground and from space at the thousands of F-150 pickups Ford parked at sites around the Midwest while the pickups awaited components. The Detroit Free Press reports that General Motors is pursuing the same strategy as Ford, called "build-shy." The term means building as much of a vehicle as possible, with final assembly waiting for the last components. As we all know, the last components this year are the ones requiring semiconductor chips. When Freep covered the situation at GM in May, the paper heard from sources that the automaker had more than 30,000 full-sized and mid-sized pickups parked in the U.S. Midwest and in Mexico, as well as about 2,000 full-sized SUVs built at GM's Arlington, Texas, plant parked not far away. According to the most recent figures, the SUV backlog has reached more than 10,000 units parked around Arlington and in the nearby town of Midlothian, Texas.

The Arlington plant is one of the only GM facilities to escape downtime this year due to the chip shortage. The plant builds around 1,200 SUVs per day over three shifts, those being the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade. As at other plants, the build-shy vehicles go on car carriers that will deposit them at the waiting lots.

It's key to note that these are rolling figures. When GM gets new shipments of chips, the automaker apportions them in the best way to satisfy dealers, customers, and its bottom line. One big batch of chips were used to get 30,000 vehicles cleared out of lots earlier this summer, which could be partly why the number of SUVs in storage has risen while the pickup figures have declined from the May numbers.

After Ford CEO Jim Farley recently said during Q2 earnings calls that Ford is heading toward a lot more build-to-order production and won't go back to huge inventories sitting on dealer lots, GM CEO Mary Barra has done the same. She said the company's created new vehicle distribution tools for dealers, so GM "will never go back to that inventory we had pre-pandemic because we’ve learned how to get the right vehicle to the right dealer and customer at the right time without having to have deep inventory on their lot." It won't be a lot lower, though, "because a consumer does like to come to a dealership and be able to drive off a lot in a new car."

So far, the build-shy strategy has kept GM in the money even as AutoForecast Solutions predicted GM would build 326,651 fewer vehicles this year. After strong earnings in the first quarter, GM's second-quarter numbers were good enough to allow GM to maintain its earnings forecast for the year.
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To give you an idea for how bad the chip shortage is getting for GM, apparently their SUV backlog has reached more than 10,000 units that are parked around Arlington and Midlothian, Texas.

Back in May it was reported that there were 30,000 full-sized and mid-sized pickups parked in the U.S. Midwest and in Mexico.


Earlier this year, we marveled here on the ground and from space at the thousands of F-150 pickups Ford parked at sites around the Midwest while the pickups awaited components. The Detroit Free Press reports that General Motors is pursuing the same strategy as Ford, called "build-shy." The term means building as much of a vehicle as possible, with final assembly waiting for the last components. As we all know, the last components this year are the ones requiring semiconductor chips. When Freep covered the situation at GM in May, the paper heard from sources that the automaker had more than 30,000 full-sized and mid-sized pickups parked in the U.S. Midwest and in Mexico, as well as about 2,000 full-sized SUVs built at GM's Arlington, Texas, plant parked not far away. According to the most recent figures, the SUV backlog has reached more than 10,000 units parked around Arlington and in the nearby town of Midlothian, Texas.

The Arlington plant is one of the only GM facilities to escape downtime this year due to the chip shortage. The plant builds around 1,200 SUVs per day over three shifts, those being the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade. As at other plants, the build-shy vehicles go on car carriers that will deposit them at the waiting lots.

It's key to note that these are rolling figures. When GM gets new shipments of chips, the automaker apportions them in the best way to satisfy dealers, customers, and its bottom line. One big batch of chips were used to get 30,000 vehicles cleared out of lots earlier this summer, which could be partly why the number of SUVs in storage has risen while the pickup figures have declined from the May numbers.

After Ford CEO Jim Farley recently said during Q2 earnings calls that Ford is heading toward a lot more build-to-order production and won't go back to huge inventories sitting on dealer lots, GM CEO Mary Barra has done the same. She said the company's created new vehicle distribution tools for dealers, so GM "will never go back to that inventory we had pre-pandemic because we’ve learned how to get the right vehicle to the right dealer and customer at the right time without having to have deep inventory on their lot." It won't be a lot lower, though, "because a consumer does like to come to a dealership and be able to drive off a lot in a new car."

So far, the build-shy strategy has kept GM in the money even as AutoForecast Solutions predicted GM would build 326,651 fewer vehicles this year. After strong earnings in the first quarter, GM's second-quarter numbers were good enough to allow GM to maintain its earnings forecast for the year.
The chip thing has gotten much worse as Covid ravages Malaysia where a critical supplier for GM is located. This has been mentioned several times by GM over the last month as their bottleneck.
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The chip thing has gotten much worse as Covid ravages Malaysia where a critical supplier for GM is located. This has been mentioned several times by GM over the last month as their bottleneck.
It's getting crazy here. Everyday a new feature lost. Just today we received an email about no more side blind zone alert or rear cross traffic alert on the Encore GX. They are also removing the digital temp readout on the climate knobs and only showing it now on the infotainment screen. This affects the Silverado 1500, Sierra 1500, Colorado, Canyon, Acadia and Terrain for the 2022 model year.
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It's getting crazy here. Everyday a new feature lost. Just today we received an email about no more side blind zone alert or rear cross traffic alert on the Encore GX. They are also removing the digital temp readout on the climate knobs and only showing it now on the infotainment screen. This affects the Silverado 1500, Sierra 1500, Colorado, Canyon, Acadia and Terrain for the 2022 model year.
I don’t think they need to go Tesla crazy by taking turn stalks and the like, but consolidating some functions is a good idea. I don’t see any reason for the temperature to be on the dials anyway as you have to look down at them - it’s easier to see on the screen. As an owner of two different cars with both ways of doing things, I personally like that information on the screen.
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I agree and my Bolt just shows on the screen anyways so it wouldn't bother me. My only worry is it will get to a point where the sum of all parts being taken off will add up enough for people to just wait and buy later. Obviously being in sales this isn't what I want. Yes this seems small, but I only see more features going away and nothing coming back yet.
It's getting crazy here. Everyday a new feature lost. Just today we received an email about no more side blind zone alert or rear cross traffic alert on the Encore GX. They are also removing the digital temp readout on the climate knobs and only showing it now on the infotainment screen. This affects the Silverado 1500, Sierra 1500, Colorado, Canyon, Acadia and Terrain for the 2022 model year.
Its crazy, when buying used cars in the future will have to avoid the 2021, and 2022, that are missing parts... Kinda like Tesla took out the passenger adjustable lumbar
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That's funny to think about almost knowing it now versus later. You usually hear about this years down the road to stay away from that model year as they have issues. Now we know
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