About 165,000 more vehicles were cut out of automakers’ global production schedules for this week because of microchip shortages, according to the latest AutoForecast Solutions estimate. Most of the lost production is occurring in North America.
The flare-up follows a week of relatively uninterrupted production at most auto plants around the world, particularly in North America where no additional schedule reductions were reported.
But AFS now reports that plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico will be chopping 161,000 vehicles out of their schedule for the week, due specifically to short supplies of microchips.
Plants in South America also are reducing their output for the week.
So far this year, 4.35 million vehicles have been eliminated from factory plans. That is in addition to the 10.55 million units lost in 2021 due to the chip crisis, according to AFS.
The latest cuts are a reminder that the shortage continues to linger fully two years into it. While improvements in semiconductor sourcing and “lowered expectations” for 2023 production plans will help automakers to limit losses next year, the issue “has yet to be resolved completely,” said Sam Fiorani, AFS vice president of global vehicle forecasting.
