Ford is preparing to reduce its Dearborn Truck plant to a single shift due to the global shortage of chips, choking production of its highest volume product, the F-150 pickup.
Automotive News reports that Ford will shut down its Kansas City assembly plant completely next week – the same time Dearborn will have just one shift. Ford said production issues could reduce available inventory by 1.1 million vehicles this year.
Meanwhile, Mazda expects the semiconductor crisis to affect approximately 100,000 vehicles from the Japanese automaker worldwide during the fiscal year. Mazda said it will fully use available inventory to mitigate the impact of the production shortage, but dealers will still be around 70,000 units short when all is said and done.
The global shift to remote working and learning during the pandemic had increased the demand for laptops and other gadgets, exacerbating a global shortage of chips. The deficit will cost automakers $ 110 billion in revenue losses this year, up from a previous estimate of $ 61 billion, said consulting firm AlixPartners, which predicts the crisis will hit production of 3.9 million vehicles.
Cars depend on chips for everything, from computer management of engines to reduce fuel consumption to driver assistance systems such as emergency braking.
This article contains reports by Reuters.