Shortages in semiconductors are becoming a serious problem for automakers.
VW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz are already having to cut back on their production.
Concern is growing at BMW too.
With the outbreak of the
corona
pandemic, the demand for cars has plummeted.
Chip manufacturers
have therefore cut their production plans.
This is now becoming a
problem
for many car manufacturers
.
Munich - The Munich-based car
manufacturer BMW
sees the global bottleneck in semiconductors with growing concern.
"This is a topic that is very important to us," a company spokesman told Merkur.de on Friday.
The semiconductor supply was secured for January, it said.
"But of course
BMW is
not decoupled from global developments," said the spokesman.
"We drive on sight".
So far, however, the supply of electronic components has not led to any interruptions in production.
For other manufacturers, however, the delivery bottleneck for semiconductors is already having a noticeable impact.
VW
had to stop
production of the Tiguan and Touran
in
Wolfsburg
on Thursday (January 14th) due to missing chips.
The group had previously had to cut production of the Golf 8 due to a lack of electronic components.
Now the problems are widening.
From Monday, the conveyor belts at the
VW plant
in
Emden will also
stop.
This is where the group builds the Passat.
The 9,000 employees affected will be on short-time work, initially until the end of January.
The group subsidiary
Audi
is now
also feeling the effects of
the bottlenecks.
Production of the A4 sedan and the A5 convertible in
Neckarsulm will be
suspended from Monday
, and also in the main plant in
Ingolstadt
from Thursday
.
A total of 10,000 employees are affected by the plans.
They should also go on short-time work, initially until the end of January, it said.
BMW: The situation is also coming to a head at arch-rival Daimler
Meanwhile, the situation at the Stuttgart car manufacturer
Daimler is coming
to a head.
The
group has already announced short-time work
for its compact car plant in
Rastatt
.
The Swabians build the A and B class in Rastatt.
On Thursday, the company also announced that
production should
also be cut back at the
Bremen
plant
.
It was said that individual closing days may have to be inserted from the first week of February.
Bremen
is the Group's largest production plant in Germany.
In addition to the high-volume C-Class, the popular GLC also rolls off the assembly line in Bremen.
The group left it open on Friday
whether
BMW
will have to cut production due to global bottlenecks.
"We have ordered the required volume for 2021 on time and expect our suppliers to deliver in accordance with the orders," it said.
BMW: Corona pandemic whirls production plans upside down
The global bottlenecks in semiconductors are a consequence of
Corona
.
With the first lockdown in numerous countries around the world, demand for cars collapsed drastically in the spring.
Therefore, the chip manufacturers cut their production plans.
But in the summer the demand for new vehicles increased unexpectedly strongly worldwide.
Now chip manufacturers like Infineon or
NXP
or contract manufacturers like
TSMC are being
overrun by demand.
Fast improvement is hardly in sight.
“The shortages in semiconductors”, the second largest German auto supplier
Continental
just
warned
, “will continue in 2021 and cause delivery bottlenecks in Continental production”.
