Daimler AG and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) became the latest automakers to warn of crimped sales as a result of the global semiconductor shortage, with the latter saying that deliveries in the second quarter of this year would be 50 percent worse than initially thought.
A shortage of automotive chips that began in December last year as consumer demand for personal devices soared amid COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns has persisted through this year, raising concerns of the issue spilling over into next year.
The dearth is threatening to slash US$110 billion in sales from the auto industry, consulting firm AlixPartners said in May, and has forced auto manufacturers to overhaul the way they get the electronic components that have become critical to contemporary vehicle design.
“The chip shortage is presently very dynamic and difficult to forecast,” JLR said. “We expect some level of shortages will continue through to the end of the year and beyond.”
Mercedes-Benz, the world’s biggest luxury vehicle brand, yesterday said deliveries during the second quarter were “significantly” curtailed by a lack of chips, capping a 27 percent jump in demand.
The shortages were particularly acute last month and the automaker expects the supply chain crunch to persist during the coming two quarters, Mercedes added.
The pair join China’s biggest automaker in cutting vehicle output as a result of the crisis. SAIC Motor Corp (上海汽車) trimmed its wholesale target by about 500,000 vehicles in the first half, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
SHRINKING INVENTORY
Other automakers, including Nissan Motor Co, Hyundai Motor Co and Volkswagen AG, have warned that shrinking inventory due to the semiconductor dearth will keep squeezing sales this summer.
In the US, auto sales have taken a sharp turn for the worse. From a near-record annual pace of 18.6 million vehicles in April, sales slowed to 17.1 million in May and 15.7 million last month, Deutsche Bank AG analyst Emmanuel Rosner said.
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