Volvo is the next manufacturer in line to halt production due to the ongoing semiconductor shortage. The Swedish manufacturer confirms that operations at its plant near Gothenburg will be on hold momentarily.
As Automotive News Europe reports, a Volvo spokesperson said “Production at Torslanda will be paused temporarily from this evening due to a material shortage linked with the semiconductor issue,”
The Volvo spokesperson confirmed that output will restart “as soon as possible, at the latest before next week.”
The semiconductor issue has been ongoing since the hard lockdowns implemented globally due to the COVID-19 pandemic placed a strain on production for many manufacturers. It’s understood that this crisis will continue to leave its mark well into 2022 and possibly even further on.
David Leggett, Automotive Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, claims that this shortage will affect automotive production well into 2022.
“Daimler’s warnings today are the latest in a long line of warnings and actions from vehicle companies being adversely impacted by shortages of semiconductor components. Without critical semiconductor components that govern multiple areas of vehicle functionality, vehicles are simply not able to be finished for sale,” Leggett says.
“The electronic content in modern vehicles is estimated to account for some 30 per cent of a bill of materials, with the prospect of that increasing to 50 per cent by 2030. As a result, automotive production is as reliant on computer chips as the consumer electronics industry.
Daimler was forced to halt production operations at a number of its plants just a few weeks ago while BMW stated that its situation was becoming “critical”.
Commenting on the situation, Daimler says that it cannot give a prediction as to when the supply shortage of needed semiconductor components will be resolved.
“The situation is still volatile and we are permanently reevaluating what this means for Mercedes-Benz production,” a Daimler spokeswoman told the publication.
In Sindelfingen, production has only been stopped in some areas as Mercedes-Benz will continue to build its highly profitable large luxury cars such as the S-Class, Mercedes-Maybach S-Class and the EQS full-electric sedan. Production of these cars has not impacted.
