Microchip shortages forced automakers to cut another 70,265 vehicles from production plans this week in North America, according to the latest estimate by AutoForecast Solutions.
North American factories are being hit harder by a lack of semiconductors than those in other regions this week. Companies removed 5,776 vehicles from European assembly plants production schedules, in addition to 207 vehicles cut in Asia and 174 lost in South America.
While “greatly reduced,” the microchip shortage is ongoing and is being masked by other problems such as shipping issues, said Sam Fiorani, AutoForecast Solutions’ vice president of global vehicle forecasting.
That allows “manufacturers to brag that the semiconductor crisis is in the rear view,” he wrote in an email. “It is not and believing that it is could be detrimental to vehicle output going forward.”
