The Japanese automakers are far less optimistic than the Americans.
They are lowering production forecasts in preparation for the ongoing shortages.
The pandemic continues to drag on despite many regions seeing regulations being lifted. While US automakers plan to deliver between 10% and 30% to dealerships in 2022, Japanese car companies like Toyota, Honda, and Subaru are nowhere near as optimistic citing that the global chip shortage is still very much an issue.
The semiconductor shortage severely impacted American automakers in 2021 to the point where Toyota managed to hoist itself in the number position for annual sales in the US. Even so, Toyota has repeatedly lowered production forecast for 2022-2023 due to chip supply issues.
“It is inevitable that the situation will continue to be unstable into next fiscal year,” a Toyota executive said Wednesday as reported by the Wall Street Journal(subscription required).
Over at Honda, they’re facing the same situation as they’ve so far not been able to project a clear sales volume for the fiscal year ahead which begins in April. Over at Nissan the struggle lies in not how many vehicles they can sell but can actually make to attempt to supply the demand.
Subaru has also been forced to lower expectations. “We had to halt operations at our domestic production base,” said Chief Financial Officer Katsuyuki Mizuma.
GM and Ford are looking ahead with extreme confidence. GM has gone so far as to express that they will deliver 25% to 30% more vehicles to dealers this year. Ford expects that they will produce between 10% and 15% more vehicles in 2022.
