Over 100,000 cars have reportedly been cut from North American production this week due to chip shortage. The auto industry has reportedly been forced to cut production by more than a million vehicles this year.
Auto News reports the worldwide semiconductor shortage has resulted in more than 100,000 vehicles being cut from North American production schedules this week. Over 180,000 vehicles are expected to be dropped globally as a result of the shortage.
An engineer of United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) holds a wafer pod at the company’s wafer factory in Tainan Science Park, southern Taiwan. (SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images)
Workers assemble cars at the newly renovated Ford’s Assembly Plant in Chicago, June 24, 2019. – The plant was revamped to build the Ford Explorer, Police Interceptor Utility and Lincoln Aviator. (JIM YOUNG/AFP via Getty Images)
The data comes from AutoForecast Solutions and says that North American factories have been forced to cut production for almost 1.06 million vehicles from production schedules this year as a result of the semiconductor shortage. North America appears to be the most heavily affected area so far.
Breitbart News reported earlier this year that Ford was planning on shipping Explorer SUVs missing a key microchip:
Automotive News reports that Ford plans to begin shipping some Ford Explorers without the chips that power rear air conditioning and heating controls as the worldwide microchip shortage continues to affect auto and tech industries. Ford plans to ship missing chips to dealers within one year which will be installed in customers’ vehicles after purchase.
Heating and air conditioning features will still be controllable from the front seats according to a Ford spokesperson, and customers who purchase one of the vehicles without the rear controls will receive the vehicle at a reduced price. Ford has stated that this move is only temporary and to get Explorers to customers faster.
The Verge reports that last year, Ford announced plans to ship undrivable, partially-finished vehicles to dealers but the new chipless Explorers will be fully driveable and ready for sale. Ford’s decision appears to come as an effort to empty its factory lots of partially-built vehicles.
Data from AFS shows that almost 3 million vehicles have been cut so far in 2022 and the agency believes that the number is likely to grow to more than 3.8 million by the end of 2022. Many automakers have also had to reduce the number of features offered on their products.
In November, General Motors told customers that heated seats and heated steering wheels were being excluded on a number of its vehicles as a result of the chip shortage. It is believed that the auto industry will not recover from the global chip shortage until 2023 at best. The vice president of global forecasting at AFS, Sam Fiorani, agreed with this assessment, stating: “The chip shortage is still very much a problem. This is not a quickly solvable issue.”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan
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