GM halts production at two major U.S. plants due to Hurricane Helene

Key Points

• GM has temporarily halted vehicle production at two U.S. factories that assemble highly profitable large pickups and SUVs due to impacts to suppliers as a result of Hurricane Helene.
• The automaker canceled shifts Thursday and Friday at plants in Flint, Michigan, and Arlington, Texas.
• GM said Thursday the company was working with impacted suppliers "to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible."

DETROIT — General Motors has temporarily halted vehicle production at two U.S. factories that assemble highly profitable large pickups and SUVs due to impacts to suppliers as a result of Hurricane Helene.

The automaker canceled shifts Thursday and Friday at a plant in Flint, Michigan, that produces its heavy-duty trucks as well as at Arlington Assembly in Texas, which produces full-size SUVs such as the Chevrolet Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade and GMC Yukon.

A GM spokeswoman declined to speculate on when the plants were expected to restart production as of Friday morning. A Thursday message to workers in Arlington viewed by CNBC said production at that plant was expected to resume Monday.

"We are working with these suppliers to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible for their employees and communities, as we seek to minimize impacts on our plants," GM said in an emailed statement.

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida late last week and hit the southeastern United States and parts of western North Carolina particularly hard. At least 215 people have died and hundreds are still missing.

GM declined to disclose what suppliers are impacted or where they are located.

Jeffrey Morrison, GM vice president of global purchasing and supply chain, on Thursday said the hurricane and the port workers strike were disruptive events for the automaker. The strike ended later Thursday and dockworkers returned to the job Friday.

Morrison said that since GM dealt with disruptions during the pandemic, the automaker has taken a deeper look into its supply chains to better track parts and potential issues.

"Covid really helped us map our value chain a lot deeper," he told CNBC during an auto conference for the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Push Coalition in Detroit. "Pre-Covid, understanding what the sub-tiers were was more difficult. We've got a great inventory of what those sub-tiers are now. Not only can we control the material we directly buy, we can talk to all of our suppliers."

Morrison also said the automaker tries to assist such suppliers as much as possible with production disruptions.