BMW and Kia were forced to cancel shifts at their US plants last week due to adverse winter weather conditions in the Southeast.
A storm warning was put in place on Thursday in the region, with snow and ice causing problems for parts deliveries and employees trying to get to work.
BMW shut its Spartanburg plant in South Carolina for two days from Wednesday (12). The carmaker decided to cancel the ‘A’ shift as drivers prepared to cross upstate South Carolina and western North Carolina.
The plant makes the X3, X5 and X6 crossovers and last year produced almost 300,000 vehicles.
Kia Motors' assembly plant in West Point, Georgia has also been affected by the weather. Inbound delivery routes to the plant were blocked last week resulting in inbound parts shortages that stopped production. On Wednesday (12) the carmaker ended its second shift early and cancelled its third shift altogether.
Production restarted on Thursday and a spokesperson for the carmaker said it would be working to reschedule missed volume at a later date.
The West Point plant produces the Kia Sorento and Optima and has annual capacity for 360,000 vehicles.
Production changes are expected during the week should the bad weather continue.
Japanese OEMs also snowed in
Meanwhile, over in Japan carmakers are also suffering from the effects of the winter.
Toyota, Honda and Suzuki were amongst the OEMs also left without deliveries of parts last week due to continuing snowstorms.
Roadblocks have caused the manufacturers to halt production at some nine plants, as disruption across the supply chain persists. Workers are unable to commute and suppliers are being advised not to tackle the motorways.
Toyota has called for a halt in production today (Monday) at its Takaoka facility, which builds the Corolla and IQ brands, as well as the Tsutsumi factory, which produces the Prius and Camry. It is hoped that all plants bar the latter will resume services tomorrow (18th).
Honda has also suspended production for its Yorii factory near Tokyo, following reduced output at the end of last week, when at least 20cm of snow fell. Suzuki has also stopped production at three of its facilities in Shizuoka.
