During the first two weeks of July, General Motors (GM) suspended production at its Silao plant in Mexico, where it produces Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks.
Sources are reporting that the automaker will plan two more weeks of pauses – specifically, the weeks of August 4 and August 11. GM has confirmed that the plant was idle in July, but has not specified the exact dates for the August shutdowns.
It's not uncommon for a company to suspend production at one of its plants to perform upgrade work. However, the pause is long in this case, and it's happening in two phases, which raises questions.
"The scheduled downtime weeks at GM Silao are part of a standard operating process to optimize production at our manufacturing complex," GM stated in response to a request from Reuters.
Are the pauses related to the effects of U.S. import tariffs? Automakers have been reluctant to point to that as the reason, but considering that the Silverado and Sierra are GM's most profitable models, the question deserves to be asked. Several weeks of shutdown are unusual for a factory that builds a brand's most popular models.
The trade war launched by US President Donald Trump has disrupted supply chains and factory work for manufacturers and parts suppliers in recent months.
GM sold 278,599 Silverados during the first six months of 2025. This is a 2-percent increase compared to the same period last year. For GMC, the results are even more conclusive, with 166,409 Sierra pickup trucks sold during the same period, up 12 percent compared to the first half of 2024.
We may never know the true cause of these prolonged pauses. What we do know is that several automotive companies have adjusted their production plans to mitigate the impact of tariffs imposed by the U.S. administration on imported vehicles.
The good news for GM is that sales of both models are up. However, the situation will need to be monitored closely in the coming months.