What threatens the global shortage of chips and what does the car have to do with it?
Volvo closes a plant in Sweden, Nissan stops production in the US. What's next for the automotive industry? There is no definite answer to this question yet.
This problem has become another consequence of the pandemic that has swept the whole world. Lack of electronic components – a real disaster for the auto business and not only. Production delays, falling production volumes – all this forces automakers to suspend the work of factories for an indefinite period.
The temporary shutdown of work at the Swedish plant in Gothenburg was announced by Volvo Cars. A similar message was received from the management of the Nissan plant in Tennessee. Everyone has the same reason – shortage of semiconductor chips.
The production of electronic devices is driven by the pandemic growth in demand for smartphones, TVs and game consoles. Due to the lack of necessary materials for electronic filling, auto manufacturers are forced to take extreme measures and reduce the production of cars.
Such temporary production shutdowns are not uncommon at Volvo's Belgian plant in Ghent. There have already been timeouts for a week. Nissan's US plant in Tennessee, which provides 6,700 jobs and makes six car models, has also paused its conveyor belts. Presumably, the working regime at the plant will resume at the end of August.
Stopping production due to a shortage of chips for more than a week was not previously practiced in American factories. But the two-week forced "pause" factories will already have tangible consequences for the manufacturer.
Experts predict that the shortage of chips may drag on until next year.