Demand for chips disrupts the ‘heart of America’s auto industry’
America’s famed auto city of Detroit is facing its worst crisis in 50 years because it doesn’t have enough chips for cars.
follow up The Washington Post, Detroit airport rental car counters are almost always empty. Dealers in the city constantly report product shortages and low vehicle inventories. Despite inflation, buyers have to wait months for their cars.
The reason is that there is a thirst for chips all over the world. Some forecasts show that supply and demand in the chip industry is slowly stabilizing, but the reality is that US automakers will have to cut production due to chip shortages.
“It’s the heart of the American auto industry, it’s an auto industry city, so the lack of cars in Detroit is unacceptable,” taxi driver Binyam Tesfazion said. Mr Tesfatzion said he had to drive ten kilometers every day to transport customers from the airport to car rentals. “Every day I drive through huge parking lots where new cars are queuing up waiting for the last chips to leave the factory,” says the taxi driver.
Long lines of cars lined the GM campus to wait for chips to be loaded. See: AP
Manufacturer GM has 2,000 new but not yet delivered vehicles in its parking lot. GM spokesman David Barnes said 95,000 cars remained unfinished due to missing chips and other defects. GM is racing for semiconductor supplies, Barnes said. Many other Ford, Honda and Nissan car parks have the same situation.
Analysts say the two-year drought for chips has had a major impact on the auto industry. Henry Ford Museum historian Matt Anderson said: “This is probably the biggest problem we’ve seen since the oil crisis of the 1970s. There is no doubt that the shingle shortage will be the subject of much public debate. The guy before me continued his research for years to come.”
According to consulting firm Alix Partners, the global auto industry will lose more than 8.2 million jobs by 2021 due to chip shortages. Only 14.4 million are expected to be produced in the US by 2022. Significantly reduced cars from 2019.
The chip shortage is not only causing a shortage of cars, but also driving up prices and disrupting urban life in Detroit. Tech’s driver, Lupko Stefanovski, said he used to drive Ford workers to work shifts and then pick them up earlier than scheduled. “The engineers said they would release sooner, no chips, no work,” Stefanovski said.
Kung Nha (Consequences The Washington Post)