The shutdowns likely will crimp dealer inventory of vehicles made at the plants, but GM says it has managed to keep factories humming that make hot-selling and very profitable full-size pickup trucks and SUVs.
Automakers sold more than 3.9 million vehicles during the first three months of the year, with several major companies reporting March sales that were nearly double from the same month a year earlier.
The fake press release could land Volkswagen in trouble with U.S. securities regulators because its stock price rose nearly 5% on Tuesday, the day the bogus statement was officially issued.
Volkswagen plans to change its brand name in the United States as its shifts its production increasingly toward electric vehicles and tries to distance itself from an emissions cheating scandal.
A Toyota spokesman would not answer questions about whether the SUVs should be parked outdoors until the matter is resolved, but said the company is cooperating in the probe.
For workers at GM and other automakers, the future could be perilous. The more environmentally focused plants of the future will need significantly fewer workers, mainly because electric vehicles contain 30% to 40% fewer moving parts than petroleum-run vehicles.
The electric-vehicle industry has grown exponentially in the past decade but still represents less than 2% of automobiles sold in the United States.
Carmakers with more software and chip expertise are set to face a smoother ride, while those whose traditional strength is metal-bending are potentially more prone to supply hiccups.
Sales of new vehicles in the U.S. fell 14.6% last year, but the 2020 performance was better than most forecasters had expected when the pandemic forced auto factories and many dealerships to shut down in April and May.
Less-strict Trump fuel-economy regulations were supported by most auto makers, many of which were having trouble meeting escalating efficiency standards set when Barack Obama was president. Now, they recognize that change is coming.
The U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency and the California attorney general’s office say Daimler violated environmental laws by using so-called “defeat device software” to circumvent emissions testing.
The Department of Health and Human Services contracted with GM to build the ventilators at a converted auto electronics plant in Kokomo at a cost of $489.4 million.
Researchers said little had changed from a test of four other vehicles in 2018, prompting the recommendation that automakers stop including the technology on more models.
General Motors is asking a federal judge to reconsider his dismissal of a lawsuit based on new allegations that Fiat Chrysler bribed union officials and GM employees with millions stashed in secret foreign bank accounts.
Gary Jones acknowledged that he falsified expenses from 2012 to 2017 when he was a regional UAW director. He was promoted to president in 2018 but quit after 17 months as the federal investigation intensified.
For some automakers, the return to full production has been delayed, or it’s been herky-herky, with production lines stopping and starting due to infected workers or parts shortages from Mexico and elsewhere.
General Motors said it is scheduled to start shipping ventilators as soon as next month from an automotive electronics factory in Kokomo.
General Motors—which hopes to make ventilators in Kokomo—and Ford Motor Co. are among automakers that are throwing their design and production prowess behind two other manufacturers’ efforts to build more ventilators and respirators for health care workers and first responders.
The United Auto Workers union has been pushing for factories to close because workers are fearful of coming into contact with the coronavirus.
The closures involve six plants in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including the company’s Indiana plant in Greensburg.
