Automakers lost 87,500 more vehicles from their production schedules as the total number cut because of the microchip crisis this year topped 1.5 million, according to the latest estimate by AutoForecast Solutions.
AFS, in its latest report on the global semiconductor shortage’s impact on vehicle assembly, said about 1.59 million vehicles have been axed so far this year. Including the 10.5 million vehicles lost in 2021, automakers have now lost more than 12 million vehicles worldwide since the start of the shortage.
Of the roughly 87,500 vehicles added to that total over the last week, about 35,600 were lost at North American factories, with 32,800 reported cut from assembly plants in Asia outside of China.
European plants removed about 16,500 vehicles from their schedules, while 2,600 were lost at South American factories. No further cuts were reported at plants in China or the Middle East/Africa region.
According to a Bloomberg report, quarterly production of microchips in China fell in the first three months of the year for the first time since 2019. Output of semiconductors fell 4.2 percent in the first quarter in China compared with a year earlier, driven in large part by COVID-19 lockdowns in Shanghai, a major hub of microchip production.