Ford details new production cuts amid global chip shortage

DETROIT —FordMotor Co on Wednesday outlined another batch of plant shutdowns due to a global shortage of semiconductor chips, with five plants and one in Turkey.

The No. 2 automaker did not outline how many vehicles it would lose in the latest action and reiterated its intention to provide an update on the financial impact of the chip shortage with its April 28 quarterly earnings, suggesting the blow could be Larger than originally predicted.

FordMotor Co. said in March that it expected a loss of $1 billion to $2.5 billion from the semiconductor shortage.While the company prioritizes the use of chips for its high-margin vehicles, it has sometimes been forced to idle production of its best-selling F-150 full-size pickup, and it has stopped some of those trucks for final when there are enough chips. assembled.in hand.

The Dearborn, Michigan-based company announced this month that it will cut production at its factories in Chicago, Flat Rock, Michigan and Kansas City for the weeks from April 19 to 26, and at its Ohio State assembly plants implemented scaled-back production plans, the latest in a string of chip-related cuts.

It also set downtime for its truck plant in Louisville, Kentucky, for the weeks of April 26 and May 3, and its van plant in Golcuk, Turkey, from May 8 to May 31.However,Fordhopes to make up for some of the loss in Turkey by pre-scheduling downtime later this year.

Semiconductors are widely used in automobiles, including monitoring engine performance, managing steering or automatic windows, and sensors used in parking and entertainment systems.

In addition to the chip shortage, Ford said other factors that contributed to the shutdown included a previously reported fire at Renesas Electronics Corp.'s chip manufacturing plant and a previous severe winter storm in Texas.

Industry research firm AutoForecast Solutions estimates that Ford lost production of nearly 408,000 vehicles due to the shortage, with Wednesday's action accounting for more than 91,300 of the total.

Also on Wednesday, Nissan Motor Co. announced a shutdown at its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant for April.Cancun, Mississippi, and Aguascalientes, Mexico, due to shortages.

Honda Motor Co. said it may cut output at some of its North American plants in the week of April 19 due to chip shortages and other factors, calling the situation "chaotic."German automaker Volkswagen halted production of the Tiguan crossover at its plant in Puebla, Mexico, on Wednesday and Thursday.