Millions of vehicles are once more expected to be “lost”.
So far in 2022, more than 3.6 million vehicles were not assembled.
Up until a few months ago, many automakers felt hopeful about 2023. Microchip production is expected to increase which encouraged car companies to forecast higher new vehicle production numbers for next year however the reality may be that normalized volumes are still a year or more away.
Volkswagen Predicts Global Microchip Shortage to Last Into 2024
The enthusiasm came from the fact that chip production is expected to rise by 20% in 2023 following massive investments by chip producers. Despite the good news, the reality is that the auto industry will not assemble 20% more vehicles.
“Slowly, more chips are being filtered into the auto industry,” Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions said. “But when we see production of high-margin vehicles still being affected, we know that the answers still aren’t here — and we’re still seeing that.”
Given that automakers shifted their focus to higher-end, more lucrative models over the last year and that they require more chips than ever, the industry will not be flush with microchips next year according to Automotive News. This means that the production of lower-cost higher volume cars and SUVs will not increase in any significant way.
And finally, there’s a recession looming over 2023 to boot. Fiorani ads that it is “the darkest shadow on the future,”
