AutoForecast Solutions added more than 289,000 vehicles to its tally of the number of vehicles cut because of the microchip shortage in 2022, sending the year-to-date total up about 8 percent from just a week earlier.
European assembly plants accounted for most of the latest cuts, with about 249,100 vehicles removed from automakers’ production plans there. About 22,200 were lost in North America, 15,200 in Asia outside of China and 2,900 in the Middle East and Africa.
About 3.91 million vehicles have been removed from automakers’ production plans around the world this year, according to AFS. That number is projected to reach 4.28 million vehicles by the end of the year, up about 16,200 from the previous estimate.
As the shortage nears its third year, it remains unclear when it will finally end. Hope that new microchip production capacity will outpace high demand across multiple sectors before the end of 2023 “is fading from reality,” said Sam Fiorani, AFS vice president of global vehicle forecasting, in an email.
