General Motors announced that it will shut down production at its North American assembly plants starting Monday due to the shortage of necessary computer chips caused by the coronavirus pandemic, USA Today reports.
A global shortage of processing chips has impacted production of everything from computers to vehicles. GM said that it will idle all plants but five. One other plant, the Orion Assembly Plant that builds the Chevy Volt in Michigan, had been temporarily closed previously due to a vehicle recall. Some other plants will continue to assemble vehicles and hold them until chips become available, when the vehicles will be completed and ship to dealers.
“COVID is driving supply constraints in countries that produce semiconductor chips,” said GM spokesman Dan Flores. “But I can’t say if it’s because employees have a high rate of infection or if it’s the government putting restrictions on plants due to the pandemic.”
GM’s decision will likely have short- and long-term impacts on the pricing of new and used cars, as buyers needing a vehicle shift from a limited supply of new cars to a used car market already experiencing a rush of buyers.