DETROIT (WXYZ) — The blockade at the Ambassador Bridge is affecting the auto industry on both sides of the international border with Canada. Auto plants have canceled production. So many smaller suppliers will also feel the pain the longer this goes on.
John McElroy is an auto analyst and does his own industry reports on Autoline.TV.
McElroy tells 7 Action News, “Toyota, General Motors, Ford, Stellantis have all got to shut down assembly plants and you know what that means. That means there's dozens and dozens and dozens of other suppliers that are shutting down too.”
The auto industry has gotten hit hard 3 times in the last 2 years.
In 2020, COVID shut down auto plants. Then the microchip shortage hit forcing plants to half production. The UAW says more of its members are on layoff from that than the bridge blockade for now which is hit number three.
McElroy says the final assembly plants making the new cars and trucks for a hungry car market is where the biggest losses are happening.
“When you start shutting down an assembly line, they start losing millions of dollars by the minute, so this is going to have a huge economic impact.”
The auto companies are reportedly looking into alternative ways of keeping things moving through the pipeline between the US and Canada.
McElroy says there’s a lot in it, “You might have castings that have to go over to Windsor for a machining that come back to the Detroit side for other work on it and vice versa.”
