Stellantis and Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio join the list of automakers forced to cut production following a global shortage of semiconductor chips. Stellantis, born from the merger between FCA and PSA, will temporarily stop production at five North American factories next week due to the global shortage of microchips. In detail, these are two assembly plants in Canada, one in Mexico and two in the United States. Stellantis did not specify how long the production blocks would last, but Reuters reports that a unionist in Windsor indicates that the minivan plant will halt production for four weeks starting Monday.
Also on Friday, Nissan Motor announced that it will stop production for two days starting April 1 at the assembly plants in Smyrna and Canton and at the Aguascalientes plant in Mexico. Normal production will resume on April 6th.
Nio, the Chinese startup challenging Tesla in the electric vehicle (EV) market in China, will in turn halt production for five business days at its Hefei plant and cut its first-quarter delivery forecast by 1,000 vehicles. Nio shares on Wall Street fell 4.8% to $ 36 on Friday, bringing the YTD balance to -26% (-46% from the 11/1 intraday tops to $ 66.99).
Manufacturers forced into outages due to chip shortages also include Ford Motor, Honda, General Motors and Volkswagen. According to AutoForecast Solutions estimates, the chip shortage has cost the global auto industry 130,000 fewer vehicles, with the heaviest impact in North America (74,000 fewer units).