Japan Disaster, Lack Of Parts Forces General Motors To Halt Production

DETROIT — A shortage of parts from Japan will force General Motors Co. to halt production at its pickup plant in Shreveport, La., next week, the company said Thursday.

It's the first time a U.S.-based automaker will stop production in North America over parts shortages caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Toyota Motor Co. and Subaru have already slowed North American production to conserve parts that they normally import from that nation.

GM makes two compact pickups at its Shreveport plant, the GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado. Both use a five-speed manual transmission made by Japanese supplier Aisin Seiki Co, which has halted production in Japan and suspended overtime in North America.

GM's other North American plants haven't been affected so far.

GM said it will resume production as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the company has enough of the trucks in inventory that it would take more than two months to sell them all. The trucks could be at the plant, en route to showrooms or on dealer lots.

Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC said their plants haven't been affected by shortages.

Comments

[UWorlds1]

10:37 PM on 03/22/2011

Still waiting on my check. We bailed GM out now they can't make cars. No wonder they went under.

[dwilson424]

01:55 PM on 03/18/2011

Hay GM where is the 56 Billion you took from the Tax Payers?

[rcozad]

01:52 PM on 03/18/2011

Well looks like another blow to 'out sourcing" last time I looked companies like Borg Warner and the former GM subsidiary Allison had the ability to make manual transmissions!

[layman]

02:21 PM on 03/18/2011

So, GM outsourced their parts and American jobs to foreign lands. That's where the American jobs are !

[lovonrun]

12:25 PM on 03/18/2011

this is why our "American" cars and trucks should be made in USA...not Japan or other countries.

[thefreetradejoke]

02:18 PM on 03/18/2011

How 'bout that globalization! LMAO. Suck it, GM.

[missmanners]

10:18 AM on 03/18/2011

Well, if folks had listened to Hillary Clinton in 1994 on healthcare, US plants would not have had that argument to send jobs to Japan and elsewhere to be competitive. Now just tell me who (republicans) were against single payer.

[msfitz4]

10:10 AM on 03/18/2011

Yup keep sending those parts plants over seas.I live in town that was devistated when part manufactures moved off shore. We don't have a earth quake, tsunamie or a nuclear crissis. But sorry we can't help you. they closed all the parts plants here.

[Hopethisworks]

09:57 AM on 03/18/2011

Not only car parts, I recall reading that a lot of parts for our military hardware come from Japan. How is that in our best national security interests ?

[bikerdude]

08:49 AM on 03/18/2011

This points to the advantage of "made in USA"....I wonder how many American truck buyers were aware that their transmissions were being made in Japan? Penny wise and pound foolish for sure... This is what happens when you put bean counters in charge.

[James Leo]

08:39 AM on 03/18/2011

Another reason to push "domestic production " we have American machinists who are more than capable of producing these parts here. Its greed coming back to byte you in the ass!!!
Progressives are right again!!!

[Channa]

08:15 AM on 03/18/2011

I fear this is the tip of the iceberg. The triple disaster in Japan is going to have knock on effects to the global economy. China is a big trading partner with Japan and now the Chinese are having to slow factory production due to the situation in Japan. Apple is not going to get some key components for their iDevices. Given the current global economic frailty this can have disastrous effects. I don't expect to hear much news about how this will impact the global economy since no one wants to cause panic.

[nixrox04]

07:41 AM on 03/18/2011

So much for the basic production concept of second sourcing.

[bikerdude]

08:52 AM on 03/18/2011

Or first sourcing at home...How much of the cost of this fiasco will be placed at the feet of those who would rather outsource from a foreign country than make it here? Did someone get a fat bonus for taking American jobs and productivity off shore?

[fozzi58]

09:14 AM on 03/18/2011

Yes - in the form of dividends in their stock options...

[nixrox04]

09:24 AM on 03/18/2011

You are absolutely right and I agree.
But...look how quick the Union workers at HD and the city of Milwaukee rolled over when HD management demanded salary and benefit cuts OR threatened to move HD out of Wisconsin. Corporate threats have worked well for the past decade and American corporations along with their congressional enablers in the GOP won't be happy until most workers in the USA are reduced to minimum wage.

[ForRichardorPoorer]

06:48 AM on 03/18/2011

Makes an individual long for the days of "made in America"...

[JoliAvocat]

04:50 AM on 03/18/2011

Ford has many parts that are manufactured in Mexico as well.

[AeJaa]

05:47 AM on 03/18/2011

And oddly, they manufacture parts for the Japanese. Who woulda thunk it?

[JoliAvocat]

04:42 AM on 03/18/2011

Perhaps this article will enlighten some of these "buy American cars" types. The parts in their GM and Ford products are from Japan. Even Chrysler has some.

The car with the American car company emblem isn't American at all. So don't think you are saving jobs either. Toyota and Honda both have plants to build several models right here in the USA. I've been in the Toyota plant that builds Camrys.

[AeJaa]

05:49 AM on 03/18/2011

But did you know that Ford and GM in Asia manufacture parts and cars for the Japanese?

[Mondayboy]

04:11 AM on 03/18/2011

who in their right mind thought globalization was a good idea?

[bikerdude]

08:53 AM on 03/18/2011

Bean counters and market manipulators....

[cmr11]

10:11 AM on 03/18/2011

yep, that's a fact.