North American automakers have been experiencing less impact from the global chip shortage in recent weeks. But that situation took a turn last week when more than 160,000 vehicles were taken out of North American factory schedules, according to the latest industry report from AutoForecast Solutions.
The impact signaled that the microchip issue is not yet over.
But North America was second in terms of the shortage’s regional impact last week. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for 182,000 of the 471,000 total vehicles taken out of global production schedules.
In North America, General Motors cut nearly 42,600 vehicles out of planned production last week across more than two dozen nameplates.
Hyundai Motor accounted for 27,000 vehicles taken out of North American production schedules, including the Santa Fe and Sonata midsize crossovers, Elantra and Tucson compact crossovers and Santa Cruz compact pickups (Montgomery, Ala.).
Ford cut 27,500 vehicles, while Stellantis, Toyota Motor and Honda Motor slashed planned production of 19,000, 12,600 and 10,600 vehicles, respectively, last week.
The latest changes raise the global number of vehicles lost in announced shutdowns and line slowdowns to chip shortages to 4.1 million, up from 3.6 million a week earlier. AFS now projects that up to 5.3 million cars and trucks ultimately could be affected worldwide.
