More than 100,000 vehicles were cut from North American production schedules because of the global microchip shortage last week, as output resumed after the annual summer holiday break at plants in the U.S. and Canada, according to estimates from AutoForecast Solutions. The only other part of the globe that lost production last week was Japan — 7,300 vehicles.
Sam Fiorani, AFS vice president of global vehicle forecasting, pointed to issues being faced at two of the world’s largest automakers.
“Along with much of the industry … Toyota and Stellantis are still looking for ways to handle this crisis,” he said. “Stellantis continues to show its losses in the past and has not properly anticipated how it will be affected going forward; but more losses will be reported in the second half of 2022. Toyota has acknowledged its issues and removed a considerable portion of its production volume in July, with more expected to follow.”
Some degree of relief appears to be on the way. Last week, Bosch announced it will invest more than $3 billion in semiconductor production and other chipmaking activities.
Source: AutoForecast Solutions Inc. autoforecastsolutions.com
