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GM to idle Indiana truck plant for two weeks over chip shortage

WASHINGTON —General Motors said Friday it will idle for two weeks in April an assembly plant in Indiana that builds pickup trucks, over ongoing semiconductor chip shortages. The Detroit automaker said it will halt production at its Fort Wayne assembly plant, which builds the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500, for two weeks starting April 4. "There is still uncertainty and unpredictability in the semiconductor supply base, and we are actively working with our suppliers to mitigate potential issues moving forward," GM said Friday. The automaker said this is its first semiconductor-related full-size truck production downtime since August. GM noted that overall it has "seen better consistency in semiconductor supply through the first quarter compared to last year as a whole. This has translated into improvement in our production and deliveries during the first three months of the year." GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra met with some lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week, including Republican Senator Todd Young of Indiana. GM is backing a bill in Congress to provide $52 billion in government subsidies to boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. GM said that legislation could help "alleviate the ongoing shortage that continues to impact U.S. automotive manufacturing." (Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis) Related video:

2020 Chevy and GMC HD truck spy shots reveal LED lighting

With Chevy and GMC's 1500 series pickups just starting to roll into dealerships, our attention naturally turns to the Heavy Duty 2500 and 3500 series trucks. We've seen these HD trucks testing already, but thes latest spy photos give us our first good glimpse of the two HD trucks' headlights through some translucent camouflage, and their designs appear very interesting and quite different from each other. The 2020 Chevrolet Silverado HD looks to be getting a striking set of LED lights that flank the grille. A previously released teaser image of the truck shows that the front lighting elements are split by a bulky wing that branches out from a big, upright chrome face, and both top and bottom units seem to incorporate LED slashes. If you look closely at the images, you can easily make out the Chevrolet script cut into the grille's top edge. Amidst a bevy of Chevy test trucks was one lone GMC model in a dually configuration, and the Sierra HD also appears to have some LED accent lighting up front. Unlike the boomerang-shaped Chevy LEDs, GMC's version sports a shoulder-like right angle of light bars. Assuming these are production-level lighting units, it seems the Sierra HD will stick pretty close to the face of GMC's latest light-duty pickup truck. We're still waiting for confirmation on what range of powertrains will be available in GM's next-gen HD trucks, but we're sure there will be both gasoline- and diesel-burning engines on the ordering sheet. We expect to hear official details on the trucks sometime soon. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2020 GM Heavy Duty Pickup Spy Photos View 18 Photos Image Credit: KGP Spy Photography Spy Photos Chevrolet GMC Truck gmc sierra hd chevy silverado hd

GM dealers have ordered 30k Colorado and Canyon pickups, 3rd shift added

General Motors has an early success on its hands in the form of the initial rollout of the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickup trucks. According to the automaker, dealers have ordered nearly 30,000 of the trucks thus far, a number that far exceeded GM's early expectations.
This high demand for the Colorado and Canyon twins has prompted GM to add a third shift to its Wentzville Assembly plant where the trucks are built, starting early next year. An extra shift will add an additional 750 jobs at the location to the 1,315 that were already employed there, according to the press release that you're welcome to read down below.
Such positive sales projections for the Canyon and Colorado may portend good things for the midsize pickup segment, which was once hugely popular but has more recently contracted, with the Nissan Frontier and Toyota Tacoma standing firm as the market leaders. Now that GM's entries are the most up-to-date, and with the segment's first diesel engine on the way, it will be interesting to see how the trucks continue to sell and if their hopeful success leads more automakers back onto the playing field.