Beijing Commercial Daily News (Reporter Liu Yangpu Zhenyu) On December 6, in response to the rumor that Volkswagen was "faced a production suspension due to a chip shortage" in China, the relevant person in charge of the Public Relations Department of Volkswagen Group (China) (hereinafter referred to as "Volkswagen China") asked Beijing Shang The reporter said that the uncertainty brought about by the new crown pneumonia epidemic has affected the supply of chips for some specific automotive electronic components. The overall recovery of the Chinese market has also further promoted demand growth, making the situation more severe and causing some car production to face the risk of interruption.
Earlier, it was reported that due to the insufficient supply of chips, Volkswagen's two automakers in China, FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC-Volkswagen, began to stop production. Among them, FAW-Volkswagen has entered a state of suspension in early December, and SAIC-Volkswagen began to discontinue production on December 4. The shortage of automotive chips this time will result in the inability to produce the two major modules of ESP (Electronic Stability Program System) and ECU (Electronic Control Unit), which are on-board computers. According to data released by the
Passenger Car Market Information Joint Conference, in the first 10 months of this year, FAW-Volkswagen’s cumulative sales were 2,109,400, with a market share of 10.6%, ranking first among domestic passenger car manufacturers; SAIC-Volkswagen’s cumulative sales were 1.49 million vehicles, with a market share of 7.5%, ranking second among domestic passenger car manufacturers.
Regarding the impact of the production suspension, the relevant person in charge of the public relations department of Volkswagen China told the reporter of Beijing Commercial Daily, “We are closely following the development of the situation, and have also coordinated with the headquarters and related suppliers to actively take countermeasures. At present, the delivery of related vehicles Not affected".
FAW-Volkswagen also responded to the media that the company is currently communicating with relevant suppliers and said that the production of new cars has indeed been affected to a certain extent, but it has not been completely discontinued as rumors outside. SAIC Volkswagen also told the media that the global chip market supply problem is not an emergency, and the company has long been prepared for it. SAIC Volkswagen’s annual procurement volume is planned, and there will be no sudden inventory problems that will cause production to stop. Zhang Xiang, a senior automotive industry analyst at
, said that due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, global chip supply and deployment have encountered certain difficulties. This is a global problem that affects not only the "North and South" Volkswagen car companies, and the scope of influence is not limited to Automobile industry.
In fact, the global chip shortage has already shown signs. It is understood that in late January this year, domestic auto industry chain companies began to suspend production, and most of the production was gradually restored in April; overseas auto industry chain companies only began to suspend operations in March, and the "time difference" of the shutdown delayed the chip supply problem. Surfaced.
Recently, a price increase letter from the leading automotive chip manufacturer NXP (NXP) shows that due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, NXP is facing the dual impact of severe product shortages and increased raw material costs, and has decided to increase product prices across the board. According to other news, Nissho Renesas will adjust the prices of products such as power management ICs from January 1 next year.
With the improvement of automobile electrification and intelligence, the importance of semiconductor chips in the automobile manufacturing industry has been highlighted. According to data, semiconductor chips are widely used in multimedia entertainment systems, smart keys, automatic parking systems, engine and gearbox control systems, driving assistance systems, electric power steering, electronic stability systems, tire pressure control, power windows and other automobiles Parts.
