Another automaker faces chip shortage headaches.
Stellantis is currently holding incomplete Ram 1500 Classic trucks, as the global chip shortage continues to chip away at vehicle manufacturing across the industry. Cross-town rivals General Motors and Ford face similar issues, and this latest issue that surfaced last week is keeping these Rams from reaching dealers.
According to a Detroit Free Press report, the issue specifically affects the Ram 1500 Classic built at Stellantis’ Warren Truck Assembly and a facility in Mexico. It does not affect the current-gen Ram 1500, which the company builds at its Sterling Heights, Michigan plant. While it’s unclear at the moment how many trucks this affects, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares acknowledged the chip shortage could be a “big hit” to their business plan.
Like Ford, Ram will build the trucks as much as possible, then complete them when the necessary parts arrive “in a number of weeks,” according to the Freep‘s report. “When the component that requires the chip becomes available, we will complete the build, then perform extensive quality verifications before shipping finished trucks to dealers,” the company said in a statement. It is, more or less, the same response Ford gave as it faces issues producing the new F-150 model. While the Blue Oval cut some shifts as the chip shortage ground production to a halt, Stellantis says their workers (and their shifts) haven’t been affected so far.
As we near the end of the quarter, it’s unclear exactly how supply chain shortages will impact sales. If anything, we may see a clearer result at the end of the second quarter, when sales reports roll in by early July. The industry as a whole faces an uphill battle as it aims to rebound sales numbers from the COVID-19 pandemic, which pummeled nearly every manufacturer at this point last year.
