The crisis in the semiconductor market could lead to a reduction in world car production in 2021 by 7-9 million. This is shown by an in-depth analysis of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
“Based on an analysis of global automotive industry data, BCG predicts that 7 to 9 million cars will not be produced this year due to a lack of semiconductors,” the study said.
In the first quarter of this year, the decline in car production amounted to about 1.4 million units, in the second quarter – 2.6 million. In the third and fourth quarters, BCG estimates that between 3 and 5 million cars will not be produced.
The authors of the study note that there is no problem. It arose before the pandemic, but worsened due to growing demand for wires from manufacturers of other categories, especially consumer electronics, as well as the impact of weather conditions on supply and other force majeure (fire at a chip factory in Japan, for example). The most significant production losses in the first six months of 2021 were suffered by the conglomerate Ford, which produced more than 700 thousand cars less, Stellantis (owner of brands Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, etc.) – with a decrease of almost 600 thousand units , and Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi – with a decrease of more than 415 thousand cars.