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A car plant in China: The semiconductor crisis is currently dominating the car industry
Photo: via www.imago-images.de / imago images / VCG
The chip crisis will keep the auto industry busy for some time. "I expect that the fundamental tension in the supply chains will continue in the next six to twelve months," said BMW boss Oliver Zipse at the IAA auto show. The world's leading automotive supplier Bosch assumes that the bottleneck will soon ease somewhat, but that supplies will be very scarce in 2022 and the situation will remain tense. Daimler boss Ola Källenius does not even expect relaxation until 2023 because the demand for semiconductors is increasing sharply in several industries and production is not meeting.
The supply can hardly be forecast, explained Bosch boss Volkmar Denner. The industry is currently particularly suffering from the fact that factories in Malaysia and Thailand had to close in the fight against the corona pandemic. As long as these countries have low vaccination rates, the risk persists. Renault boss Luca de Meo said the supply situation in the current third quarter is more difficult than expected. But things should get better in the coming quarter. The French carmaker is currently sticking to its forecast that 200,000 fewer cars than originally can be built this year due to the bottlenecks.
Although the demand for cars is increasing worldwide, the management consultancy PwC is skeptical of the production and sales plans of the car industry in view of the semiconductor crisis.
The expansion of semiconductor production facilities takes up to two years, the construction of new plants even five years - therefore "no short-term recovery in the supply of semiconductors is to be expected," said PwC expert Tanjeff Schadt.
Zipse refers to the post-investment phase
BMW boss Zipse also referred to a so-called post-investment phase, in which the entire industry is currently and which also includes the chip industry.
Such phases usually lasted 18 months, of which about six months were accomplished.
He does not expect long-term bottlenecks: The automotive industry remains an attractive partner for the chip industry.
In the future, Daimler will protect itself better against such delivery problems by concluding contracts directly with the chip manufacturers, instead of leaving this to the large suppliers such as Bosch or Continental.
"This is a new position in which we are," said Head of Development Markus Schäfer.
The car manufacturer is now also having a say in the decision-making process where new chip factories will be built and is pushing for factories close to vehicle production.
hba / dpa / Reuters