A new chip crisis is overwhelming the entire European auto industry. At Volkswagen, missing chips are likely to have an impact as early as next week. Little by little, the production lines are stopped because the small but important semiconductors are missing from individual parts supplied, such as the vehicle control system. Volkswagen has therefore announced short-time work. Talks have been started with the employment agency, the FAZ reported. confirmed. The Bild newspaper first reported that the car manufacturer was preparing to stop building important models. Volkswagen is unlikely to be the only company to take such measures. The problem affects the entire industry and the industry beyond it. Accordingly, feverish attempts are being made to contain the problem. “The VDA is in contact with the affected companies, industry, the federal government and the EU Commission,” says Hildegard Müller, President of the German Automobile Association VDA: “The current focus should be on finding quick and pragmatic solutions.” Volkswagen is also apparently pulling out all the stops: “We are in close contact with all the relevant parties involved,” the Wolfsburg-based group said. Lies: “This is no longer collateral damage.” In the eyes of Olaf Lies, who, as Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, also sits on the Volkswagen supervisory board, the current case shows how European car manufacturers and suppliers are getting caught between the fronts: “It has long been “No more collateral damage,” comments the SPD politician: “Time is extremely short here and in this specific case, Europe needs a solution today rather than tomorrow, and before the production lines come to a standstill.” In the medium term, the aim is to build up our own capacities for the production of key components in Europe and to secure them strategically, also through partnerships with friendly industrial locations. The crisis had become apparent, although at first it seemed like an opaque dispute between the chip manufacturer Nexperia, the Dutch government and the previous Chinese Nexperia owners Wingtech. The company produces standard components for all types of electronics, diodes and transistors, which are installed in cell phones as well as cars. 300 to 500 such chips can be found in a passenger car alone, although the manufacturers themselves often don’t even know which supplier parts they can be found in: standard goods that are used by many of Volkswagen’s 60,000 suppliers. Nexperia has a global market share of 50 percent for standard chips. Possible production stops at Volkswagen are just the beginning Because Nexperia is so important, it is clear: the production stops at Volkswagen are only the beginning. All other automakers will likely follow suit, depending on how much inventory they have. Because – unlike during Corona times – the crisis is not related to bottlenecks in logistics, but rather to the conflict with China. The trigger was the behavior of the Chinese Nexperia boss, which led to a geopolitical escalation. Under pressure from the USA, the Dutch government intervened and took control of the company, which belongs to the Chinese Wingtech group. What could happen now led to an incendiary letter from Nexperia interim boss Stefan Tilger. He warned customers at the weekend that they could no longer trust Nexperia products. This also applies to everything that is produced in the Nexperia factory in Hamburg, because the wafers produced here are delivered back to China for “packaging”, i.e. the labor-intensive chopping and packing into components, before they are then sold on. It cannot be ruled out that the product specifications of the chips have been changed in the Chinese factory in Dongguan or at other Chinese locations, that other materials are used or that the quality assurance processes are bypassed, according to Tilger’s letter, which is available to the FAZ. “We therefore urgently warn against accepting or using such parts.”More on the subject Show more At VW and presumably all other European car manufacturers, priority is now being given to building those cars that achieve the highest margins. Because short-time work can only be applied for on a monthly basis, VW employees should be kept busy with other necessary work. The inventory work that was scheduled for this Friday on the production lines for the Golf and Tiguan at the Wolfsburg plant was not related to a possible shortage of components, Volkswagen said.
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