New estimates show that 94,000 more vehicles were removed from automakers’ production schedules at assembly plants worldwide because of the microchip shortage, according to AutoForecast Solutions.
The majority of those cuts were at North American factories, where more than 61,000 vehicles were axed. The remainder were trimmed from plants in South America and in Asia outside of China.
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said last week he expects the shortage to ease near the end of 2023, while Honda said it will have to cut output at two of its plants in Japan this month.
Still, production is “clawing its way back, and more manufacturers are reporting that their supplies of chips are becoming more stable,” said Sam Fiorani, AFS vice president of global vehicle forecasting, in an email. But automakers continue to steer chips into higher-profit models at the cost of lower-priced vehicle production, he added, leading to higher transaction prices.
