Chevrolet Races To Stop Silverado Customers From Shopping Ford Or Ram

Dec. 11, 2019 12:40 PM ET by Jay Traugott Trucks / 6 Comments

The 40-day UAW strike has some delayed aftereffects.

The production start date of the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray was not the only setback GM is dealing with following the now resolved 40-day UAW strike. The Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra and their heavy-duty variants are also suffering.

According to The Detroit News, GM assembly plants are currently working around the clock in order to restock dealerships with new full-size pickup trucks in order to prevent them from shopping elsewhere. The Ford F-150 and Ram 1500 are the GM trucks' two most significant rivals and Chevrolet also just so happens to be battling Ram for the No. 2 sales spot behind the best-selling F-150. The report claims mandatory Sunday overtime has been invoked through December 21 at GM's Flint Assembly plant, home of the heavy-duty Silverado and Sierra.

2019-2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Front Angle View

2019-2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Rear Angle View

Flint was already running three shifts, six days a week. Meanwhile, employees at the Fort Wayne Assembly plant in Indiana, where the Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500 are built, are also being forced to work overtime. This past Sunday the plant was up and running and it's already doing three shifts, five days a week, along with two Saturdays every month. Even though the strike ended on October 25, Chevy and GMC dealerships across the country are currently lacking truck inventory at this crucial time of the year.

One dealer, for example, has less than 10 Silverado 1500s and HD's on his lot the first week of this month. "We don't have any cars to pull us out, so if we don't sell trucks we are in trouble," the owner said.

2019-2020 GMC Sierra 1500 Front Angle View

2019-2020 GMC Sierra 1500 Side View Driving

The situation was very different at the beginning of October. At that time, there was an 84-day supply of trucks while the industry average is 69 days. "The bottom line is our customers cannot and will not wait any longer to make a purchase," Flint Plant Manager Mike Perez and UAW Shop Chairman Eric Welter wrote in a November 27 note to Flint employees announcing the overtime. "As a leadership team, we feel it is crucial to act now to identify a scheduling solution that will help feed market demand without compromising the quality and safety of our team."

The strike itself cost GM $3 billion and a total production loss of 300,000 vehicles.