GM News: GM Slows Pickup Launch Due To A Supplier Issue

[William Maley]

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

October 27, 2013

General Motors' rollout of their new pickups has hit a few bumps. There was story that GM was cutting back on orders of pickups equipped with the 5.3L V8 due to supplier issues and the concern of dealers not being able to move as many trucks because of GM's decision to not pile on incentives. Well here's another bump in the road. Automotive News is reporting that GM has cut back production on regular and double cab version of the trucks due to a supplier issue.

GM's plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana has cut production from 1,500 trucks a day to 1,300 due to a supplier not being able to deliver enough axles.

"We've been slowed down for several weeks because we can't get enough axles," said Rich LeTourneau, shop chairman for UAW Local 2209.

People familiar with the situation tell Automotive News that problem is more to deal with supply than quality. The plant that supplies the axles to the Fort Wayne plant also supplies the Arlington, TX plant where the full-size SUVs are built. GM has apparently put the SUVs on high priority with axles as the company wants to have a decent stock as the plant transitions over to building the next-gen models.

"GM is moving to take care of Arlington's current needs, which are greater than expected, so there has been some short-term sacrifice" of pickup production at Fort Wayne, a source said.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[G. David Felt]

That makes sense, gives time for Ford and Ram to dump their old truck versions and bring out the new so they all can reduce or eliminate the incentives. Plus SUV's are more popular at this time of year as people look for people haulers I believe. I always see plenty of new SUV's at the start of Ski Season up on the mountain.