Audi, Ford , Honda etc etc - New car production halted

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Mon 18 Jan 2021 16:49
Audi, Ford , Honda etc etc - New car production halted - Steveieb

Shortages of semiconductor chips designed for cars has resulted in production mayhem in Germany, Uk and the USA.

With these essential components now almost exclusively manufactured in China and JIT car production, large manufacturers world wide including Audi and Ford in Germany has ground to a halt. Honda and JLR are affected in UK on top of Brexit delays.

Demand for chips for hand held devices and gaming machines during lockdown have been blamed.

But to rely on a supply from China leaves the rest of the world vulnerable !

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Mon 18 Jan 2021 18:01
Audi, Ford , Honda etc etc - New car production halted - Metropolis.

Relying on red China aka the so-called People's Republic of China for ANYTHING is a big mistake. The CCP are intent on owning us and dominating us, and we continue to feed this monster by buying their goods, letting them invest in (buy) our infastructure. Nothing against the Chinese people themselves as they are the ones suffering the most, including those that are brainwashed which judging from chinese social media is a large amount.

We will live to regret our dependence on a regime that hates us. We are still seen as the imperialist aggressors with the CCP portrayiing themselves as the 'saviours'. If anyone on the forum speaks mandarin they will be able to see Chinese social media, they literally hate us and think they are still in the process of 'liberating' Hong Kong.

I know it's not feasible to cut ourselves off from them completely, but the CCP have literally been announcing in policy statements for decades about how they view us and the West in general as the enemy, no not competitors, enemies.

I am not anti-China, it's a magnificent country with several millenia of fascinating history which was very advanced in its prime.The CCP is the problem.

Surely semiconductor chips can be sourced from another country in time, hopefully this will be a reminder to diversify supply chains. The CCP heavily subsidises key industries like that giving themselves an unfair advantage, perhaps we ought to start doing the same..

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Mon 18 Jan 2021 19:26
Audi, Ford , Honda etc etc - New car production halted - Terry W

The pandemic has taught us lost of things about risk management, contingency planning, long and complex delivery chains, just in time logistics etc etc.

But the root of the problem is consumers want cheap goods. Unless manufacturers source cheap components they will be uncompetitive and ultimately fail. So they pursue low costs (subject to quality issues) and that leads them to China.

Whether the problem is really the electronics or simply the complexity of supply chains with cost reduction as it orinciple goal is not clear. Any one of hundred of components or materials may be the issue - eg: even a car tyre contains up to 25 different components. If one is missing you can't make tyres or finish cars.

Over the next few years we may see a move back to shorter, less complex and local supply chains. or It is much easier to absorb a (say) £200 price hike in a car costing £20k than a TV costing £500.

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Mon 18 Jan 2021 21:53
Audi, Ford , Honda etc etc - New car production halted - brum

Imo a smokescreen by car manufacturers. The new car market has collapsed to historic lows, they cannot carry on producing at the level they are geared up for when there are hardly any buyers just to store in muddy fields that are already full up.So its convenient to blame something else, and don't give the game away to employees, competitors, investors and the buying public, allows them to keep prices high for now and even put them up.

Nobody designs and builds electronics based on a sole source, there are many manufacturers and massive stockists of electronic bits all around the world. If they do single source, then tough t****, it will cost them dear. The car industry is small fry for ic (chip) manufacturing.

And no, most electronic chips are NOT made in China, unless you mean Taiwan or the far East.

Edited by brum on 18/01/2021 at 21:57

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Tue 19 Jan 2021 10:20
Audi, Ford , Honda etc etc - New car production halted - Bolt

Imo a smokescreen by car manufacturers. The new car market has collapsed to historic lows, they cannot carry on producing at the level they are geared up for when there are hardly any buyers just to store in muddy fields that are already full up.So its convenient to blame something else, and don't give the game away to employees, competitors, investors and the buying public, allows them to keep prices high for now and even put them up.

Nobody designs and builds electronics based on a sole source, there are many manufacturers and massive stockists of electronic bits all around the world. If they do single source, then tough t****, it will cost them dear. The car industry is small fry for ic (chip) manufacturing.

And no, most electronic chips are NOT made in China, unless you mean Taiwan or the far East.

Most chip manufacturers because of car sales drops changed to making home electronics chips, TV, phones, X-box and Sony play stations were held up production wise because the demand was greater than supply, they were hard to get and still are because of lack of chips.

so chip manufacturers made chips for the consumer electronics market not cars, could take a while to build up stocks of chips again as demand for X-box and Play station are greater than demand for cars

even Tv have rocketed in sales and when the new Tv`s come out probably even more, PCs and Laptops were the same as work from home and Kids learned at home....

Edited by bolt on 19/01/2021 at 10:22

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Mon 18 Jan 2021 23:12
Audi, Ford , Honda etc etc - New car production halted - nick62

But the root of the problem is consumers want cheap goods. Unless manufacturers source cheap components they will be uncompetitive and ultimately fail. So they pursue low costs (subject to quality issues) and that leads them to China.

With a "normal" family car retailing around the £20/£25K mark, I'd argue that boardrooms want low costs (= higher profit margins) more than consumers want cheap prices.

I'd wager most folk with shiny metal in the drive haven't the fainest idea of the OTR cost of their PCP funded drive?

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Tue 19 Jan 2021 09:25
Audi, Ford , Honda etc etc - New car production halted - skidpan

With a "normal" family car retailing around the £20/£25K mark, I'd argue that boardrooms want low costs (= higher profit margins) more than consumers want cheap prices.

That is cheap compared to 40 years ago.

In 1972 dad bought his first new car which was a Cortina L, pretty normal stuff. It had no kit whatsoever, even a Radio was extra and it cost him about £1200. If he had paid more for the XL or the GXL it would still have had no kit on it, just different wheel trims and seat material. According the the interweb the average wage at the time was about £1500 per annum thus the car cost about 80% of his salary,

Currently the average wage is about £25,000 per annum thus a £20,000 new car is about 80% of the annual average salary, not much change then.

But that new car today is far better value due to the standard kit and is also safer, faster and far more economical. They also start every morning even in winter and don't rust away within 5 years.

Don't tell me things were better back then.

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Tue 19 Jan 2021 09:39
Audi, Ford , Honda etc etc - New car production halted - RT

With a "normal" family car retailing around the £20/£25K mark, I'd argue that boardrooms want low costs (= higher profit margins) more than consumers want cheap prices.

That is cheap compared to 40 years ago.

In 1972 dad bought his first new car which was a Cortina L, pretty normal stuff. It had no kit whatsoever, even a Radio was extra and it cost him about £1200. If he had paid more for the XL or the GXL it would still have had no kit on it, just different wheel trims and seat material. According the the interweb the average wage at the time was about £1500 per annum thus the car cost about 80% of his salary,

Currently the average wage is about £25,000 per annum thus a £20,000 new car is about 80% of the annual average salary, not much change then.

But that new car today is far better value due to the standard kit and is also safer, faster and far more economical. They also start every morning even in winter and don't rust away within 5 years.

Don't tell me things were better back then.

Ford always reckoned that the entry Cortina should cost 6 months average wages - so we should be looking for a £12,500 entry Mondeo, which makes modern cars worse value.

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Tue 19 Jan 2021 14:22
Audi, Ford , Honda etc etc - New car production halted - Heidfirst

Don't know if it's related but a fire at a single supplier has been badly affecting manufacturers of audio & digital photography equipment. www.industrialfireworld.com/584058/japanese-factor...s

You have to love how the US car manufacturers want production switched from consumer electronics to auto because it is hurting their businesses - were that to happen wouldn't the CE manufacturers businesses be hurt instead? :P

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