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Global chip shortage: The latest on new-car waiting lists

  • Round-up of all major manufacturers' struggles with the chip shortage
  • It's damaging the car industry's post-pandemic recovery
  • Here's the latest update with delivery waiting times

Written by Keith Adams Published: 10 August 2022 Updated: 10 August 2022

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Silicon chip shortage
Silicon chip shortage

The shortage of semiconductor computer chips across the globe continues to disrupt the car industry alongside the Russia-Ukraine war, with sales and production numbers taking a massive global hit.

Originally a problem for brands of appliances and computing, the shortage of the silicon chips has seen automotive brands halting production in some cases and because there are fewer new cars available, buyers are looking to buy secondhand instead of joining lengthening waiting lists.

Jump to: Which manufacturers are affected

BMW

Daimler (Mercedes, Smart)

Ford

Honda

Jaguar Land Rover

Mazda

Renault

Stellantis (Citroen, Fiat, Peugeot, Vauxhall)

Toyota

Volkswagen Group (Audi, SEAT, Skoda, VW)

Volvo

What and why?

The problems can be traced back to Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the pandemic, and are an ongoing issue due to the resultant supply-chain crisis. The impact meant that many semiconductor factories were closed down, and now are running low on staff which seriously affected the global supply. 

As well as more people working from home now, which saw an increase in demand for laptops, there has also been the introduction of Xbox Series X and PS5 games consoles which, along with cars, has seen a serious market rush for semiconductors. 

There was also a fire at Renesas Electronics, a serious player in chips for cars, which resulted in short supplies becoming even scarcer. A trade war and severely cold weather in Texas, where many chip factories are based, has not helped either and with many manufacturers competing to get hold of the same chips the crisis does not appear to be near the end yet.

Which brands are affected?

Every modern car relies on semi-conductors to some degree, but some brands have been more vocal than others about their issues. Following financial results for the third quarter of the year, a number of manufacturers have described how the shortage has had an impact on figures.

BMW

Sales of BMW and MINI vehicles have been steady, but the firm said the availability of semiconductor components remains ‘problematic’. Adjustments were made to its planned production in response to the crisis.  

The company expects the supply situation to remain difficult and despite it being able to absorb the impact of crisis so far, the possibility of sales being affected in the coming months ‘cannot be ruled out’, a spokesman said.

A spokesperson told Parkers: ‘The situation remains volatile and we still expect that supply limitations due to the ongoing semiconductor bottlenecks could lead to further production adjustments at our plants. The war in Ukraine is also impacting the country’s automotive supply industry which has a wider impact on manufacturing plants across Europe. Our aim is to minimise the impact on our production as much as possible and the BMW Group expects sales for the full year to be on a par with last year.’

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BMW M240i
BMW M240i

Daimler

Mercedes-Benz and Smart’s parent company said the firm is having challenges. Talking at the FT Future of the Car conference, Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius said: ‘What’s going on now is that we are still suffering from what I would call a Covid whiplash effect, where some of the supply chains are strained.

‘The main one that’s holding us back is semiconductors. It’s not just Covid, it’s also a structural problem hiding behind what we experienced in 2021 and the end of 2020,’  he added. Daimler said it believes that ‘strained supply chains and bottlenecks for key components’ will continue to have a considerable impact on worldwide vehicle production for the remainder of the year. 

Like others, the firm believes the overall shortage of semiconductors is expected to remain an issue throughout 2022 and into 2023.

Ford

Ford said that while semiconductor availability ‘remains a challenge’ the firm has seen some improvements in delivery times.

A spokesperson for Ford said: Production challenges due to the global, industry-wide semiconductor shortage continue. It affects Ford’s production plants, which are supported by teams working on how to maximise production, with a continued commitment to build every high-demand vehicle for our customers with the quality they expect.’

Ford delivery times

Fiesta: Six to nine months
Puma:  Four to five months
EcoSport:  Three months
Focus: Four to five months
Kuga:  Five to six months (hybrids possibly sooner, spec dependant)
S-MAX and Galaxy: Five to six months
Mach-E: Six to seven months
Transit/Tourneo (all): Six to 12 months, spec dependant
Ranger: Six to eight months 

Honda

A spokesperson said: ‘Honda continues to experience interruptions to production due to various factors including semiconductor shortage, logistics delays and the wider impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, for the European region, we are currently experiencing some disruption to supply. As the situation remains uncertain, we will continue to closely monitor, as we seek to minimise any impact on customers.

Currently, our lead time on new vehicles is circa three-to-four months (some products like HR-V are longer at six-to-nine months).

Jaguar Land Rover

JLR confirmed that sales are ‘constrained’ by the impact of chip shortage production, with delays of up to 12 months being quoted for certain models, while others have have been taken off sale temporarily. Apart from the new Defender, retail sales of all models were lower year-on-year.

Jaguar Land Rover delivery times:

Jaguar XE: Up to six months
Jaguar XF: Up to six months
Jaguar E-Pace: Up to six months
Jaguar F-Pace: Up to six months
Jaguar I-Pace: Up to six months
Jaguar F-Type: Six-to-nine months

Land Rover Defender: Nine-to-12 months
Land Rover Discovery Sport: Orders suspended apart from PHEV models, which are nine-to-12 months
Land Rover Discovery: Orders suspended on some models, while others are nine-to-12 months

Range Rover Evoque: Orders suspended on some models, while others are nine-to-12 months
Range Rover Velar: Six-to nine months
Range Rover Sport: Orders suspended
Range Rover: More than 12 months

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Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar Land Rover

Mazda

A spokesperson from Mazda told us: ‘We are working hard to mitigate any delays to consumer cars from the global shortage of semiconductors and currently we have sufficient stock to meet customer demand. Like all other companies we are affected by the chip shortages, but we still have supply of cars and our CX-60 is still on track for launch and on-sale in September.’

Renault

A spokesperson said: ‘Like the entire automotive industry, we have been impacted by the global semiconductor crisis for over a year now. For 2022, the supply situation for semi-conductors led us to announce a loss of production estimated at 300,000 vehicles at the time of the publication of the financial results, concentrated in particular on the first half of the year. However, demand remains strong and for the Renault brand our order book is growing rapidly, +80% vs 2021 in Europe

‘In this context, we are adjusting sales conditions and vehicle delivery times country by country and model by model. Priority is given to our new launches, in particular the new Megane E-Tech, which has already been a great success. Each country monitors the evolution of its order book and the delivery times of the vehicles ordered and can decide to suspend the taking of orders when these delays are too long.’

Stella​ntis

Stellantis, the supergroup that includes Fiat, Vauxhall, Citroen, Peugeot, Jeep and Alfa Romeo, has also been affected by the chip shortage.

A spokesperson for the company told Parkers: ‘Our manufacturing plants operate with strict Health and Safety protocols that have been developed by the Company and that also adhere to the standards set by the respective national Governments. In addition, there are semi-conductor component shortages that impact all industries such as ours producing goods with high degrees of technology within them. 

‘Regrettably, these two external factors are currently resulting in longer delivery times for new vehicle orders.  Customers should be assured that we carefully manage each sold order in order to minimise any such delay as much as we possibly can.’

Toyota

The Japanese firm seems to be riding the storm better than most, securing good supplies of chips during the semi-conductor shortage. How this manifests itself in delays for vehicles is interesting, with a spokesperson saying: ‘Accurate and detailed almost impossible, sadly, so vague and general will have to do.

‘In short, we operate central stocking (we hold the cars, not the dealers) this means the visibility of available stock at any given dealer is better than any individual dealer might hold, so for a customer there’s more chance to get the car they want. Also, we did not cancel semiconductor orders so our supply chain is more robust than many others.’

The spokesperson added: ‘Best advise is to speak to your local network partner for specifics as it’s quite a changeable picture.’

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Volkswagen
Volkswagen

Volkswagen Group

The German giant, which includes the Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT Cupra, Skoda and Porsche brands, continues to be affected by the shortages.

A spokesperson for the company said: ‘Following a significant shortage of semiconductor capacity in 2021, the continued very high level of demand worldwide is leading to production bottlenecks in many industries. That has hit – for over a year now – the automotive industry and the Volkswagen Group’s brands. The Volkswagen Group’s taskforce has been working intensely and successfully to minimise the effects of the semiconductor bottleneck on products in the Group especially as demand for our cars remains strong.

‘We assume that the situation in the semiconductor supply chain will continue to improve in 2022 and that the production of vehicles at the automobile factories will stabilise in the course of the year compared with 2021. However, the semiconductor supply situation will remain tight: The coronavirus pandemic is continuing to pose major risks as it impacts the supply chain which may have an adverse effect on the situation.

‘We analyse the situation daily in order to limit the impact on production. The Group is taking every effort it can to minimise delivery delays for its customers and to ensure that they remain mobile, e.g. by extending lease terms. The Group’s half yearly results will be announced towards the end of July when we can expect an update on the status.’

Volvo

A spokesperson said: ‘We expect a gradual improvement in semiconductor supply during the remainder of the year, but believe the general constraints will remain a problem for the industry in the coming weeks and months as uncertainty is still high. Customer demand for Volvo cars remains strong.’

When will things be normal?

Production issues will certainly carry on for the next few months and into 2023 according to a number of manufactures and the impact from this and the Russia-Ukraine War is still disrupting sales and production numbers. 

Last year, UK car production declined by 41.5% year-on-year and new car registrations fell 34.4% from last year, the weakest September performance since 1998.  However, sales of new battery electric vehicles continues to grow with a market share of 15.2%.

A spokesman for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said: ‘Output continues to be hampered by the production stoppages caused by the ongoing global shortage of semiconductors as well as the loss of production capacity arising from the closure of one of the UK’s larger plants (Honda’s Swindon factory which closed in July).’

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SMMT boss Mike Hawes
SMMT boss Mike Hawes

SMMT’s chief executive Mike Hawes added: ‘Despite strong demand for new vehicles over the summer, three successive months have been hit by stalled supply due to reduced semiconductor availability, especially from Asia. Nevertheless, manufacturers are taking every measure possible to maintain deliveries and customers can expect attractive offers on a range of new vehicles.’

What this means for you

Waiting lists for new cars remain long and the result of this has seen prices rise for the used car market. Volkswagen Group has orders for almost half a million cars across Europe alone so the possibility of getting a new car on your driveway quickly is currently slim.

If you are looking to buy new, be prepared to wait a while for delivery of your car, especially for vehicles built by smaller manufacturers who may well be struggling to source alternative supplies of chips. Dealers will be able to advise estimated delivery dates and waiting times for specific models.

The semiconductor crisis is good for people looking to sell their cars however and prices are getting stronger, especially for low-mileage, good condition nearly-new cars, but there are rises in values across the board. 

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Further reading

>> What does your car know about you?
>> Best cars 2022
>> Car advice on Parkers
>> Keep up with the latest news