The impact of semiconductor shortages in major auto countries represented by Germany, France, and the United Kingdom has intensified in June. At a time when market demand is strong, both production and sales are facing recovery pressure.
German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz predicted on the 6th that a global semiconductor shortage will affect its sales in the next two quarters. Earlier, the company said that tight supply limits the delivery of vehicles in the second quarter, especially affecting the delivery in June. .
The German Automobile Manufacturers Association (VDA) said this week that German car production in recent months has been “significantly lower than expected” and has lowered its forecast for this year’s production growth from 13% to 3%. In its mid-year market report, VDA predicts that Germany will produce 3.6 million vehicles this year, a decrease of 400,000 vehicles from the previous forecast.
The German automobile industry owns brands such as Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW, etc., which account for about 5% of Germany’s overall economic output and provide more than 800,000 jobs.
Since the beginning of this year, with the improvement of the new crown epidemic situation and the rapid recovery of demand for automobiles, manufacturers have fallen into an embarrassing situation of chip shortage.
According to data released by the VDA, in the first half of this year, German car production was 1.73 million units, an increase of 16% year-on-year, and new car sales also increased by 15% year-on-year to 1.39 million units; however, due to the “core shortage” problem, its June car production declined. 19%, highlighting the current predicament of the German automotive industry.
The automobile industry uses dozens of chips in various electronic systems. When the supply of chips from automobile manufacturers is insufficient, they have to slow down production or idle factories.
According to the British “Financial Times” report, despite the substantial increase compared with 2020, the number of newly registered cars is still far below the level before the outbreak of the new crown epidemic. The global chip shortage proved to be an obstacle to the recovery of British car sales last month.
According to data from the Association of British Automobile Manufacturers and Traders, approximately 186,128 new cars were sold in the UK in June, 28% higher than the same period last year, but 17% lower than in June 2019. Some car sales showrooms are still closed, while others have opened for the first time since they closed during the epidemic.
The industry is facing hundreds of thousands of lost sales due to the closure of factories around the world due to semiconductor shortages.
A person in the British auto industry told the media: “With the global semiconductor shortage in sight, the auto industry is facing serious supply problems, which may pose serious obstacles to the road to recovery.”
Although consumer demand for new cars has been suppressed, the automotive industry has been unable to meet demand due to chip shortages. The chip shortage is expected to affect the level of car production in the second half of this year.
Plummer, Commercial Director of the Online Market Auto Trader website, said: “It is worth noting that the performance we are seeing is based on the large number of orders received before the semiconductor shortage. Therefore, the overall impact may be more obvious in the next few months. .”
