General Motors was forced to temporarily stop vehicle production at two key U.S. factories as suppliers faced delays from Hurricane Helene.
GM confirmed in a statement to Fortune that two factories, one in Michigan and one in Texas, had canceled shifts on Thursday and Friday. The company did not have a timeline for when the factories would be up and running again, but emphasized they were working quickly to resume operations.
“Production at Flint Assembly and Arlington Assembly is canceled for all shifts on Thursday, October 3 and Friday, October 4 because of impacts to suppliers as a result of Hurricane Helene,” an emailed statement from GM read. “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.”
The Michigan factory, GM’s oldest still-operating assembly plant in North America, 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, if any, impact the closures will have on production overall, and GM declined to elaborate on which suppliers were linked to the pause.
GM stock rose 1.56% on Friday as markets rallied on a strong September jobs report.
The interruption at GM marks the latest in a series of setbacks caused by Helene, which has been dubbed the deadliest hurricane in 20 years. One Accuweather estimate put the total damage and economic loss in the U.S. from the storm between $95 billion and $110 billion. Those are daunting numbers amid reports that say the Federal Emergency Management Agency doesn’t have enough funding to make it through hurricane season.
And more storms are churning in the Atlantic.
The National Hurricane Center is tracking two powerful storms. Kirk was upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday, but its path has changed and it isn’t expected to make landfall. Leslie is still rated as just a tropical storm, but experts predict it will reach hurricane status by Saturday. Leslie is not currently projected to make landfall either, but the quick succession of strong storms is unnerving as communities, businesses and governments are just starting their recovery from Helene.
The automotive industry relies heavily on just-in-time manufacturing, which minimizes inventory to reduce costs but leaves little room for flexibility when supply chains are disrupted. In recent years, hurricanes such as Harvey and Ida have caused significant disruptions to manufacturing and shipping, delaying production schedules and cutting off access to key resources. For carmakers like GM, these interruptions threaten their ability to meet demand, particularly for high-margin vehicles 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, fortifying factory protections or even shifting 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 producing at scale, especially as the industry still recovers from COVID-19 pandemic slowdowns.
