Malcho said it would not have a major impact on the Detroit automaker’s U.S. corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, numbers.
“We routinely monitor our fleet for compliance in the U.S. and Canada, and we balance our portfolio in a way that enables us to manage unforeseeable circumstances like this without compromising our overall (greenhouse gas) and fuel economy compliance,” she said.
GM’s fleetwide fuel economy in the 2018 model year was 22.5 miles per gallon and was projected to rise to 22.8 mpg for 2019, according to a report by the Environmental Protection Agency.
To meet federal CAFE requirements, automakers like GM often use credits from either earlier years where they faced less stringent rules and performed better than the requirements or buy credits from other automakers.
GM said last month the chip shortage could shave up to $2 billion from this year’s earnings. It subsequently said it expected global chip supplies to return to normal rates by the second half of the year.
GM’s U.S. rival Ford Motor Co. previously said the shortage could hurt 2021 profits by up to $2.5 billion and said it had curtailed production of its flagship F-150 pickup.
The shortage, which has hit automakers globally, stems from a confluence of factors as carmakers, which shut plants for two months during the COVID-19 pandemic last year, compete with the sprawling consumer electronics industry for chip supplies.
Also on Monday, BMW Chief Technology Officer Frank Weber said things will be tough in the short term.
“We hope that this situation is going to improve as we get closer to summer,” he told reporters. “But April and May we expect will be very tough. Predictions, I cannot make because really we are working from week to week. So far we have been very successful and we have not lost a single day in production.”
