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American Axle supplies key components for General Motors’ (GM) production of two of the nation’s most profitable and popular full-sized pickup trucks, and a protracted strike is expected to curtail production at GM’s assembly plant in Flint, Michigan.
“Depending on how long the strike lasts, you could be looking at a significant impact to GM’s heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra production, which GM currently churns out 1,200 of those vehicles daily,” Bill Rinna, vice president, Americas at GlobalData Automotive in Farmington, Michigan, said.“That said, combined those models accounted for just 2% of North American production in 2025,” Rinna said. “While an extended strike would alter steel demand, it will likely be made up eventually or its usage pivoted to other models — therefore ultimately the overall impact would likely be negligible.”
The stakes are highest for American Axle, according to Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions.
“As important as these trucks are to General Motors, [American Axle] is likely to push very hard for a contract. American Axle will not lose a customer as key as General Motors and a program as big as this one,” Fiorani said.
“If this strike lasts any significant amount of time, GM will need to look for an alternative source of axles,” he added.
“When Flint runs out of components, GM will lose more than 1,000 trucks per day. The Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra generate about $2.7 billion in profits annually,” Fiorani said.
Investors took the news in stride, noted Samuel McKinney, metals analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets.
“Despite this news, GM’s stock is down less than 1% today, outperforming both [Ford] and [Stellantis],” McKinney said on Monday June 1 after the market closed. “That should signal that investors aren’t too worried.”
The impact may have a broader impact beyond GM, according to Marick Masters, professor of business at Wayne State University in Detroit.
“American Axle derives over 75 percent of its business from the Big Three [GM, Ford and Stellantis], with GM being its largest customer at 44 percent,” Masters said.
“The impact of the strike on GM and other auto manufacturers’ production depends on the length of the strike and the companies’ inventories of affected product,” he said.
“The impact of the strike on steel production in the US is similarly dependent on its length and reverberations across original equipment manufacturers,” Masters said.
“For the UAW, the strike involves important issues regarding the auto-parts sector and its broader campaign to raise wages across the entire industry,” Masters said.
“The outcome of the strike will signal the UAW’s extant bargaining power in an industry that is in the midst of economic, technological and trade-tariff challenges,’ the professor said.
“Wages among workers at Three Rivers lag behind industry norms for the unionized and nonunionized sectors, owing to significant concessions made in 2008,” Masters said.
Josh Jager, chairman of the bargaining committee for UAW Local 2093, recalled the union’s wage concessions made in 2008 during a UAW webcast on June 1.
“Many of us, myself included, had our wages cut from $29 an hour to $14.50 an hour over night. We did it to save the company. We did more than save them. We made them billions of dollars,” Jager said.
Jager told Fastmarkets on Tuesday June 2 that current pay for production workers tops out at $22 per hour after five years.
“Adjusted for inflation, today’s pay is a lot less than it was in 2008,” Jager said. “The original $29 an hour would be around $44 today — and even the $18 in 2008 is worth $27 today.”
“I have a message for this company and it’s a simple message — time’s up,” Sean Fain, UAW’s International president, said during the June 1 webcast.
“UAW rank-and-file will keenly watch this situation as they prepare for their upcoming national convention and leadership elections,” Masters said.
The American Axle factory uses special bar quality steel and cold-finished bars as feedstock to produce engine, transmission, driveline and safety components for gas-powered and electric vehicles.
A shutdown in production at the Flint plant, in turn, can impact demand for galvanized steel for rust-resistant parts, as well as for other steels used to make trucks and cars, including low-carbon or mild steel for frames, ultra-high strength steel (UHSS) for rigid parts, and high carbon steel for frames, chassis, door panels and support beams, according to automotive analysts.
Download a sample of the Fastmarkets steelmaking short-term forecast