Recently, a number of auto giants, including Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford and General Motors, have issued frequent production cutbacks due to repeated outbreaks in Malaysia, the world's seventh largest exporter of semiconductor products. In view of the severe impact of the epidemic, senior executives of Malaysian chipmakers have revealed that the company is considering adjusting some product lines to other countries for production.
Below, according to the timeline, SMM sorted out the car companies that announced production cuts under the impact of the Malaysian epidemic. Let's take a look.
Mazda:
On Sept. 3, Mazda said it would suspend work for eight days in Thailand and seven days in Mexico due to a decline in operating rates at several supplier factories as a result of the epidemic in Malaysia.
Mitsubishi Motors:
On the same day on Sept. 3, Mitsubishi Motors said some models at its main Thai plant would stop production for about a month, which could reduce Mitsubishi production by about 4000 vehicles in September.
General Motors:
On Sept. 2, GM announced that it had decided to suspend operations at most North American plants from September 6 and would make further adjustments in line with the progress of its supply chain due to a global shortage of chips.
GM said that with the exception of the Arlington, Texas, assembly plant, which makes the high-margin full-size SUV, Flint, which makes heavy trucks, Bowling Green, which makes Corvette sports cars, and Lansing, which makes Chevrolet Comero and other models, other North American plants will stop production on Monday.
Ford Motor:
On Sept. 2, Ford said its new car sales in the United States fell 33.1% last month compared with the same period in 2020 due to a continuing shortage of semiconductor chips worldwide. At the same time, due to a lack of cores, the company decided to cut sales of Fmur150 pickup trucks and other highly profitable models again.
Specifically, the Oakville (Oakville) assembly plant in Canada, which produced the Fmur150 on August 27th, will continue to shut down until Sept. 6, following the suspension of production in the same week on August 30th. Other factories that produce Fmur150 have also cut three shifts to one shift. Production capacity of high-margin models such as Ford's Super Duty pickup truck, Conqueror and navigator SUV has also been affected.
Around August 25, a spokesman for Ford Motor Company said that due to the epidemic in Malaysia, the door control module chip could not be delivered on schedule, Ford Motor plant in Cologne, Germany, stopped production for five days from August 23.
Stellantis:
Stellantis said on Aug. 30 that it was extending the shutdown time at its European plants because of a shortage of chips, while several Stellantis plants in the United States and Canada were also facing shutdowns. It is worth mentioning that due to the lack of core, Stellantis's production plan has been released on a weekly basis.
Maruti:
Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker, said on Aug. 31 that its car production was expected to fall by 60% in September due to chip shortages. In August, Maruti cut production because of a shortage of chips, and now the announcement of another production cut is no longer a sign that Maruti is getting more affected by the lack of core.
Scania:
Scania, a Swedish truck brand owned by Traton, a subsidiary of Germany's Volkswagen Group, stopped production at its truck factory in Europe on August 30th because of a shortage of chips. And it is worth mentioning that a Scania spokesman also revealed that the company's plant in South America suspended the production of its trucks from September 4 to September 8.
Nissan:
After the outbreak in Malaysia, foreign media reported that Nissan temporarily closed the production line of its large assembly plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. At that time, it planned to stop production in the week of August 16 and August 23, and planned to restart the production line on August 30.
Tesla:
While a number of car companies are suffering from a lack of cores, Tesla is also doomed. It is reported that some operations of Tesla's Shanghai plant were temporarily closed in August, including a production line that was suspended for four days due to a shortage of key chips.
All of the above is only the beginning of a series of cutbacks by car companies after the recent outbreak of a new round of outbreaks, and it is not yet possible to predict how they will be able to do so in the future. Daimler's CEO warned on Sept. 5 that the shortage of semiconductors may not disappear completely until 2022 and may not be resolved until 2023. Yuan Chengyin, general manager of the National New Energy vehicle Technology Innovation Center and secretary-general of the China Automotive Chip Industry Innovation Strategic Alliance, predicts that the global production affected by the epidemic will be reduced by about 7 million to 8 million vehicles in 2021.
