DETROIT—The global microchip shortage knocked about 18,000 more vehicles out of North American production schedules last week—a relatively small change in the supply-chain crisis compared with previous weeks. But new trouble may be rising in Asia, according to the latest weekly industry report from AutoForecast Solutions.
Chinese factory schedules are showing increased need to alter vehicle output. SAIC GM cut 65,000 vehicles out of its production schedules last week, at Shandong, Shanghai and Liaoning, AFS reported.
The reductions coincide with a May drop in new-vehicle sales in China—the first decline in 13 months.
At the same time, Hyundai accounted for 22,000 of the 51,000 vehicles taken out of production schedules in Asia, all in Ulsan, South Korea. General Motors Korea trimmed the other 29,000 vehicles from lines producing the Chevrolet Trax/Tracker, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Buick Encore and Encore GX subcompact crossovers, Chevrolet Malibu midsize sedans and Chevrolet Spark minicars (Gyeonggi or Gyeongnam, South Korea).
In North America, Stellantis reduced planned production of its Chrysler Voyager and Pacifica minivans by 3,300 (Windsor, Ontario) and trimmed 4,300 Jeep Cherokee midsize SUVs (Belvidere, Ill.).
GM cut about 6,100 Chevrolet Equinox compact crossovers (Ingersoll, Ontario) and 4,300 Chevrolet Malibu midsize sedans and Cadillac XT4 premium crossovers (Fairfax, Kan.).
The latest changes raise the global number of vehicles lost in announced shutdowns and line slowdowns to chip shortages to 3.6 million, up from 3.2 million a week earlier. AFS now projects that up to 4.7 million cars and trucks ultimately could be affected worldwide.
