Volkswagen U-turns and predicts chip shortages to ease later this year
Volkswagen made a U-turn today and predicted that chip shortages will ease in the second half of 2022.
“We see opportunities for further production increases, especially in the second half of the year,” the group’s chief executive Herbert Diess said during a speech.
Diess’s comments come a few days after another member of Volkswagen’s management admitted the automotive maker was not yet out of the woods, as ongoing chip shortages would plague production “beyond the first half of this year.”
“We must continue to fight for every part,” Murat Aksel, Volkswagen’s board member and head of procurement, told German car magazine Automobilwoche in early February.
Aksel added that, even though supply chain might ease in the second half of the year, structural problem would make predictions inaccurate until 2023.
Despite the more positive outlook, the chief executive said Volkswagen expects 2022 production to be significantly lower, Reuters reported.
“The supply situation is getting better, but even in 2022 we will not be able to build all the cars we could sell,” he added.
As a result of supply chain issues and chip shortages, the group was forced to reduce production forecasts for 2022, after it cut down its 2021 predictions from 9.3 to 9 million vehicles produced, City PM reported.