General Motors has had to cancel production at its factories that make its highly profitable and popular heavy-duty pickups and large SUVs as a result of Hurricane Helene, the Detroit Free Press learned late Thursday.
GM spokeswoman Tara Kuhnen said the automaker canceled all shifts on Thursday and Friday at Flint Assembly and Arlington Assembly in Texas because of impacts to suppliers as a result of the hurricane, which struck parts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee last week.
"We are working with these suppliers to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible for their employees and communities as we seek to minimize impacts on our plants," Kuhnen said.
GM builds its full-size heavy duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups at Flint Assembly. At Arlington, GM makes the Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Yukon XL and Cadillac Escalade and Escalade-V full size SUVs.
As of Thursday, the death toll from the hurricane had surpassed 200 and nearly 1 million homes and businesses remained without power in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Tens of thousands of residents, most in western North Carolina, remained without running water, according to a USA Today report.
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Contact Jamie L. LaReau: jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: GM pauses some pickup and SUV production due to Hurricane Helene