GM Factories Forgoing Two-Week Summer Shutdown to Build More Cars On 6/3/21 at 1:50 PM EDT General Motors Co. said in a statement that it will be shifting its focus to high-demand vehicles such as pickup trucks and SUVs, and U.S. assembly plants for those products will not be taking the traditional two-week shutdown in an effort to meet demand. GM and other car manufacturers have struggled with a global computer chip shortage as a result of factories and chip orders being canceled early last year when COVID-19 was spreading. The factories came back after only eight weeks, but chip production had changed to focus on the increased demand from the electronics industry.