In addition to the lack of chips, automakers are also having to deal with the shortage of electrical harnesses due to the war in Ukraine.
Factories shutting down production or working reduced shifts will be in the news for at least another two years. According to the Volkswagen Group, the shortage of semiconductor chips will remain a problem until 2024
Arno Antlitz, VW's chief financial officer, believes that while semiconductor supplies will improve over the course of this year and next, the problem has already become structural and will take longer than expected to resolve.
Even with the end of the pandemic and the return of normal activities in the industries, Antlitz explains that chipmakers will not be able to meet the growing demand, even if they increase production.
“We see a structural supply shortage in 2022, which is likely to ease a bit in the third or fourth quarter. The situation should improve in 2023, but the structural problem will still not have been fully resolved," Antlitz told Automotive News Europe.
This forecast is also shared by another German automaker. In an interview with Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said that the semiconductor shortage is still at its peak and that the brand is preparing for a "2023 of low component supply".
In addition to the shortage of semiconductor chips, European automakers are also suffering from a lack of electrical harnesses, a component that is mostly made in Ukraine.
The war with Russia has affected the export of whips. According to Antlitz, VW factories are already being forced to suspend shifts, as its Ukrainian supplier is operating a single shift. Recently, BMW was also forced to suspend production for a few days due to component shortages.
With limited supply, Volkswagen is being forced to look for new, temporary alternative suppliers. “We set up a crisis team and, in some cases, also transferred volumes to other production facilities from the same suppliers. However, alternative sites should not replace production sites in Ukraine in the long term.”
SOURCE: www.quatrodordas.abril.com.br
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