About 23,900 units were added to AutoForecast Solutions’ tally of the number of vehicles removed from automakers’ production plans because of the microchip shortage this year.
Roughly 33,900 were cut at North American plants, with another 5,200 being axed in South America. But the AFS estimate for the number of cuts at plants in Asia outside of China improved by about 15,200 units from the prior week’s estimate, offsetting some of the losses in the Americas. Ford and Stellantis are among the automakers that continue to show “production hiccups” that are limiting the number of vehicles they produce, said Sam Fiorani, AFS vice president of global vehicle forecasting, in an email. Still, production in China has been stabilizing, helping to limit the number of global vehicle losses.
“Hints that China may ease its very tight COVID-19 restrictions could also stabilize the supply of chips and other components to local producers, as well as regional automakers,” Fiorani said.