The lack of chips is affecting the auto industry more and more. Had after Volkswagen in China last also General Motors and ford reported significant problems, it now also appears Tesla to be caught off guard by the scarcity of components. According to one Report from the Bloomberg news agency the electric car manufacturer has to suspend Model 3 production for two weeks in its Californian plant.
According to the report, Tesla told workers that the corresponding belts at the Fremont factory would be idle between February 22 and March 7. Tesla wants to continue to pay employees wages for part of the downtime, and they should submit vacation for the rest. The share of Tesla gave in on Thursday by around 3 percent.
The reason for the loss of production was not mentioned in the report; a request initially went unanswered. Tesla recently had not ruled out that the global shortage of semiconductors could also affect the carmaker and at the same time affirmed that it wanted to increase global deliveries by up to 50 percent this year.
According to Tesla, some of the chips it needs are sourced from Samsung from a factory in Texas. The chip manufacturer had to temporarily shut down its factory in Texas last week due to a power outage caused by winter storms. However, Samsung did not name the customers concerned.
The Californian plant remains the most important part of Tesla’s vehicle production, with an estimated capacity of 600,000 vehicles per year. The Model 3 and the electric SUV Model Y are manufactured here. Last week, Tesla lowered the price for the cheaper versions of the two models.