Something is better than nothing
Volkswagen does not need to reduce production in its home country Germany in the coming week despite the chip shortage from Nexperia. The company, which also owns brands such as Audi and Porsche, warned earlier this week about possible production limitations due to the Chinese export ban of the Dutch chip company, but now assures that production is safe until next Thursday.
“Given the rapidly developing situation, we cannot rule out short-term effects on production. Volkswagen is currently investigating alternative supply possibilities to minimize potential impacts on the supply chain,” a spokesperson stated on Friday morning.
French company Valeo, a supplier to Volkswagen, BMW and Stellantis among others, is also working on replacing Nexperia chips. This has already been successful in 95 percent of cases, said financial director Édouard de Pirey.
The company’s thoughts go back to 2021, when the unexpectedly rapid recovery from the coronavirus crisis caused a chip shortage. “We are implementing the same measures as then to optimize our deliveries and work on replacement components. We are supplied for the coming weeks,” said De Pirey, whose company Valeo supplies driving assistance systems among other things.
Nexperia has been facing delivery problems since the Dutch government took control of the company, which was previously managed by a Chinese parent company. In response, China stopped the export of Nexperia products, which led to chip shortages in the global automotive industry among other things. An average car contains hundreds of Nexperia chips.