BMW Group joins other auto brands with chip shortage crisis
The Mini plant in Oxford, has been hit by global ship shortage. Photo: Mini
Carmakers from Volkswagen Group to Ford have been forced to idle factories as the global chip shortage hits and now BMW Group has had to pause production.
Demand for phones, laptops and electronics during the pandemic overwhelmed suppliers, with NXP Semiconductors said it’s expecting supply to be tight all year and warned constraints for the auto industry could extend into 2022, according to Bloomberg.
BMW Group will pause Mini car production at its Oxford, England, factory for three days starting April 30, according to a spokeswoman. It’s also reducing shifts this week at its plant in Regensburg, Germany.
The Oxford plant produced around 222,340 Mini vehicles in 2019, equivalent to around 870 vehicles per working day. Around 80 percent of the vehicles produced in Britain are exported.
The Regensburg factory makes the X1, X2 plus 1 Series and 2-Series Gran Tourer. It produces 790 cars per working day.
NXP Semiconductors said it’s expecting supply of its chips (above) to be tight all year. Photo: Supplied
BMW was one of the last remaining major automakers unscathed by a shortage of chips expected to cost the industry tens of billions of dollars in revenue this year. Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk this week called the issue a “huge problem”, says Bloomberg.
Auto giant Toyota’s monitoring of small suppliers led it to stockpile early and for now says it doesn’t see an immediate need to halt production.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda addressed the chips shortage last month at a briefing in his capacity as chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
“There are automakers that are really struggling and others that are not scarred as deeply,” he said. “What’s proven important: very close communication between automakers, chipmakers, and the part suppliers that rely on those chips.”
In the meantime, the likes of Nissan, General Motors, and Honda have had rolling stoppages.
