Only 13,100 vehicles were removed from automakers’ production plans because of the global microchip shortage in the newest global forecast from AutoForecast Solutions That is the lowest number of new chip shortage-related factory cuts reported in months.
AFS, which has closely monitored the semiconductor crisis over the past year, said automakers have cut 656,200 vehicles in 2022 so far, up about 2 percent from its worldwide estimate a week earlier.
According to AFS, the additional cuts primarily occurred at European assembly plants, where about 11,000 vehicles were axed. The rest were in North America, where roughly 2,000 vehicles were cut from plans.
While the estimate is a positive turn for automakers after a year of production woes, the situation remains volatile. Ford Motor Co. reportedly plans downtime this week at two U.S. plants that build light trucks.
