The global delivery crisis hits the US auto company ford hard. In the first quarter, the bottleneck in computer chips could slow production by 10 to 20 percent and thus reduce the operating result by one to 2.5 billion dollars, Ford announced on Thursday evening. The production of the F-150 pick-up, the one in the USA best-selling car model and the Group’s most important profit maker, will be cut by half by mid-February. The day before, a reduction in the production of SUVs had become known.
According to the analysis service IHS Markit, more than 670,000 fewer cars will be produced worldwide in the first quarter due to the chip crisis. The shortage of the important electronic components will continue in the second quarter, albeit DaimlerChief Ola Källenius (51) spoke of a “problem mainly in the first quarter”.
Daimler and Porsche open to changing supply chains
Daimler The production affected by the chip bottlenecks at the Mercedes plants in Rastatt and Bremen will start up again at the beginning of next week. The works started on schedule again, said a spokeswoman on Thursday. Rastatt was on short-time work for three weeks because of the supply problems with semiconductors, Bremen for one week. Production in Kecskemét, Hungary, was temporarily suspended, but according to the information it is already running again. They said that the situation should be continuously monitored in close cooperation with the suppliers and the procedure adjusted if necessary.
Daimler boss Källenius said the “Financial Times”that he could imagine building larger chip stores to avoid such crises. “If it makes sense to create more levels of safety stocks in the future, we would consider doing that.” That would be a departure from the previous just-in-time supply chain, in which parts only come into the factories when they are needed for production. Porsche boss Oliver Blume (52) also told the newspaper, “We have to think about building camps”.
Infineon boss Reinhard Ploss said the automakers “have to think again” about their supply chains. Nevertheless, microchips and sensors cannot be stored indefinitely without risking quality problems. Chip manufacturers like Infineon are in turn dependent on suppliers. Seventy percent of the automotive industry’s semiconductor needs are met by a single manufacturer, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
TSMC promised in January after the intervention of Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (62, CDU) and government representatives from other car nations a quick solution to the problems. During the Corona crisis, chip production was redirected to the rapidly growing demand for entertainment electronics. The comeback of the auto industry hit a market that had already been swept empty at the end of 2020.
Ford writes annual loss – and doubles investments in electric and robotic cars
ford revealed the production problems in the presentation of its business figures. In the fourth quarter, Ford slipped deeper into the red. The net loss amounted to 2.8 billion dollars after a loss of 1.7 billion dollars a year earlier, as the US auto company announced on Thursday evening. At the end of the year, however, there were various special items. In 2020 as a whole, the consequences of the Corona crisis Ford lost $ 1.3 billion. The target was actually a profit between 600 million and 1.1 billion dollars.
The Ford stocks still gained after-hours as fourth-quarter operating results and 2021 earnings guidance of $ 8 billion to $ 9 billion were above expectations on Wall Street.
Despite the heavy losses, Ford wants to invest in the Electromobility massively increase. “We are accelerating our entire plans,” said CEO Jim Farley (58). This also includes expanding battery capacity and the range of electric cars. By 2025, 22 billion dollars are to be invested in electric vehicles, almost twice as much as before. In addition, seven billion dollars are to be invested in the development of self-driving cars over the next few years – five billion dollars of this already this year.