Several major US auto manufacturers have announced holiday shutdowns will be extended into January due to surplus automotive inventories.
General Motors announced that it will idle five US auto assembly plants in January for periods of one to three weeks to reduce oversupply of sedans.
Ford Motor Company is planning to shut down operations at the Kansas City Assembly plant during the first week of 2017 in response to high truck and van inventory and to perform facility maintenance.
FCA will idle two of its Ontario plants from January 3-6 following the New Year’s Day holiday to align production with demand.
Edmunds research is expecting December sales to be down 0.3 percent year over year for an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,629,011 vehicles. Automakers are still on track to inch past last year’s record sales by approximately 5,000 units, according to Edmunds.
IHS Markit is lowering its forecast for number of vehicles sold in the U.S. during 2017 to 17.37 million from 17.5 million citing rising inventories and use of incentives by automakers.