North American and European assembly plants continue to adjust production schedules as automakers cope with reduced deliveries of microchips. General Motors and Volkswagen assembly lines topped the most recent assessment of production plan changes issued by AutoForecast Solutions, which is tracking the chip shortage impact.
AFS indicates that the shortage has stabilized among Chinese plants for the moment.
Among the newest estimates of industry cutbacks by AFS: GM has trimmed 13,331 Chevrolet Malibu sedans (Fairfax Assembly, Kansas City, Kan.) and 11,687 Chevrolet Equinox crossovers at two plants in Mexico (Ramos Arizpe and San Luis Potosi). Volkswagen’s largest changes were to non-U.S. models built at two assembly plants in the Czech Republic, AFS reported.
The firm now estimates that the industry has lost a total of 5.8 million cars and trucks because of the chip shortage so far, and that figure could rise to almost 7 million.
