About 285,000 vehicles were taken out of North American production last week as the chip shortage worsened, according to AutoForecast Solutions’ May 7 tally. Stellantis accounted for 55,000 of those vehicles, the AFS figures indicate. They included: 37,400 Jeep Cherokee midsize SUVs (Belvidere, Ill.); 5,100 Dodge Charger and Challenger sedans, and Chrysler 300 and 300C large sedans (Bramalea, Ontario); 8,800 Chrysler Pacifica and Voyager minivans (Windsor, Ontario); and 3,700 Ram ProMaster vans (Coahuila, Mexico).
Ford Motor Co. cut 71,300 vehicles from its production schedule. Among them: 19,300 Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs and F-Series Super Duty light pickups (Louisville, Ky.); 13,400 Explorer and Lincoln Aviator crossovers (Chicago); 22,200 Transit van and F-Series light pickups (Kansas City, Mo.); and 10,500 Ranger midsize pickups and Bronco SUVs (Wayne, Mich.).
More than 23,100 vehicles were taken out of BMW’s production schedule, including X3 and X4 compact crossovers, X5 and X6 midsize crossovers and X7 large crossovers (Spartanburg, S.C.).
The latest changes raise the global number of vehicles lost in announced shutdowns and line slowdowns to chip shortages to 2.58 million, up from 2.29 million a week earlier. AFS now projects that up to 3.68 million cars and trucks ultimately could be affected worldwide.
