(Bloomberg) -- A semiconductor shortage is dragging on Daimler AG and Honda Motor Co. car production, reflecting the escalation of an issue Volkswagen AG warned about late last year.
The Mercedes-Benz maker is affected by the industrywide supply bottleneck, Chief Executive Officer Ola Kallenius said Thursday, without quantifying the impact. Hours later, Honda said it will cut domestic output by about 4,000 cars this month at one of its factories in Japan.
VW, the world’s biggest carmaker, announced last month that it would need to adjust first-quarter manufacturing plans around the globe because of the shortage. The company said chip makers reassigned some of their production capacity to consumer electronics and other sectors last year and were caught off guard by surprisingly resilient auto demand. The amount of VW car output lost could be in the low six-digit range, according to people familiar with the matter.
The supply-chain issue could keep the auto industry from getting off to a smooth start to the year after the coronavirus undercut output during much of 2020. Struggles to rebuild inventory in some markets led the largest U.S. car dealer and lender to complain the industry has been missing opportunities for more sales.
“The spread of the coronavirus has impacted procurement in semiconductors and related parts,” a Honda spokesperson said in a statement Friday. “We will address this issue by adjusting production and replacing car models.”
Honda will trim production at its Suzuka plant, located in Japan’s eastern Mie prefecture. The plant makes the Fit subcompact, which is also marketed as the Jazz. The chip shortage could potentially impact tens of thousands of vehicles in the March quarter, Nikkei reported, citing an unidentified source.
Robert Bosch GmbH and Continental AG, Europe’s largest car-parts makers, acknowledged the chip-shortage issue last month after VW’s announcement. BMW AG said at the time that it was monitoring the situation and wasn’t expecting a disruption to production.
Peugeot maker PSA Group is not affected, a spokeswoman said Friday.
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