North American automakers will cut nearly 20,000 vehicles out of their production schedules this week as a new round of microchip shortages dashed hopes that the global supply problem was clearing up.
The eliminations are part of nearly 70,000 factory cuts around the world, according to the most recent forecast from AutoForecast Solutions, illustrating that the microchip shortage is still an issue in its third year. Companies are cutting vehicles from factory schedules in every automaking region in the world, according to AFS, which has tracked the microchip shortage’s impact on automakers since it began in 2021.
Asia appears to be the most impacted region, with China and the rest of the continent accounting for about 69 per cent of all lost vehicles globally so far this year. AFS now projects that about 2.78 million vehicles will have to be dropped through the end of the year, up slightly from 2.77 million a week earlier. But those cuts come on top of roughly 14.9 million vehicles that were lost in 2021 and 2022.
