General Motors was forced to temporarily halt vehicle production at two major U.S. plants as suppliers faced delays due to Hurricane Helen.
General Motors confirmed in a statement luck Two plants, one in Michigan and one in Texas, have canceled shifts on Thursday and Friday. The company did not have a timetable for when the factories would return to work again, but it confirmed that it was working quickly to resume operations.
“Production at Flint Assembly and Arlington Assembly has been canceled for all shifts on Thursday, October 3 and Friday, October 4 due to impacts to suppliers as a result of Hurricane Helen,” an emailed statement from GM said. “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 to our plants.”
The Michigan plant, GM’s oldest North American assembly plant still in operation, is known for producing heavy-duty trucks. Arlington Assembly in Texas produces full-size SUVs including the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon. It’s unclear what impact, if any, the closures will have on overall production, and GM declined to clarify which suppliers are connected to the pause.
General Motors stock rose 1.56% on Friday as markets rebounded after a strong September jobs report.
The GM outage represents the latest in a series of setbacks caused by Hurricane Helen, which has been described as the deadliest hurricane in 20 years. One Accuweather estimate put total damage and economic losses in the United States from the storm at between $95 billion and $110 billion. These are shocking numbers amid reports that the Federal Emergency Management Agency does not have enough funding to get through hurricane season.
There are more storms hitting the Atlantic Ocean.
National Hurricane Center is tracked Two strong storms. Kirk was upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday, but its track has changed and it is not expected to make landfall. Leslie is still classified as just a tropical storm, but experts expect it will reach hurricane status by Saturday. Leslie is not currently expected to make landfall either, but the rapid succession of powerful storms is worrying, as communities, businesses and governments are just beginning to recover from Hurricane Helen.
The automobile industry relies heavily on just-in-time manufacturing, which reduces inventory to reduce costs but… Doesn’t leave much room for flexibility When supply chains It broke down. In recent years, hurricanes such as Harvey and… The IDA caused major disruptions For manufacturing and shipping, delaying production schedules and cutting off access to key resources. For automakers like General Motors, these outages threaten their ability to meet demand, especially for vehicles with high profit margins like SUVs and trucks.
Climate experts are urging manufacturers to reassess the risks posed by extreme weather and invest in more resilient infrastructure, such as diversifying supplier locations, strengthening plant protections, or even moving production away from high-risk areas. However, the challenge remains in balancing the costs of proactive investments in climate resilience against the immediate financial pressures of large-scale production, especially as the industry is still recovering from the slowdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.