Production delays, cutbacks, and temporary factory closures are among several ways automakers have chosen to weather the global semiconductor shortage. But seeing as there is still no light at the end of the tunnel, carmakers are starting to feel the pinch and have resorted to desperate, if a bit creative measures to overcome the problem.
According to a Bloomberg report, Nissan will be omitting the GPS navigation systems from thousands of new cars, Renault has stopped offering the fully digital instrument cluster in the Arkana, and Ram will temporarily cease to offer the intelligent rear-view mirror on its 1500 pick-up trucks, just to save on chips.
The unprecedented shortage is a historic one, and comes at a time when automakers are starting to produce much safer and smarter cars that require significantly more computing power. The collective production cutbacks will result in millions of vehicle sales to be lost this year, and experts say the situation will not get any better until 2022 at the very least.
Mark Liu, the chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s leading chipmaker, said his company can only begin to meet auto clients’ minimum requirement by June. Liu told CBS in an interview that the chip shortage could last until early 2022, but automakers simply cannot leave their factories idling that long.
Companies that are lucky enough to have secured what limited supply of semiconductors are allocating them to more profitable and popular models. Peugeot, for example, has announced that it will be replacing the digital instrumentation in the 308 with conventional analogue ones.
General Motors, on the other hand, is forced to build the Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck without a certain fuel-economy module, costing drivers about one mile per gallon of fuel. In a more extreme case, Nissan chartered a cargo flight to ship its chip supplies from India to the US, just to keep its North American production running.
One way automakers and suppliers can overcome this hurdle is to source for whatever chips that are available, including those that have been produced but fall short of standard quality specifications. These sub-standard chips, Bloomberg said, will not jeopardise the car’s safety systems, but could theoretically see the infotainment system or emissions monitoring systems malfunction in extreme weather conditions.
Sig Huber, a consultant at Conway MacKenzie and former head of purchasing at Fiat Chrysler, said automakers can purchase new chips and rewrite the software to do the same thing. Tesla revealed last week it alleviated issues by reaching out to new semiconductor suppliers, and then quickly writing new firmware for those chips.
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I more preferred analog meter anytime.
Once u go digital especially in BMW and Benz, you wint go back to analog. Period.
Analog dials are way more reliable than digital LCD panel screen.
costing drivers about 1.6 km per 4.5 litres of fuel.
You mean costing drivers about 1 mile per (imperial) gallon?
p2 not impacted so no problemo. book today, collect tmr
I wish that was true.. P2 recently said the waiting period for Ativa is minimum 2 months.. Actually, unless you’re willing to give up your first colour choice and opt for any “ready stock” colour option (usually not the popular ones), then you have to at least wait 2 months for all their models.
The best is worth the wait, get X50 Flagship.
Remove all electronics go back to the age of pure mechanicals, and we’ll find the global chip shortage for automobiles disappear.
Pergi ke kedai makan nasi ayam, minum cincau
Analog instrument cluster, basic safety features (ABS, ESP, air bags) and a simple entertainment unit are good enough.
The rest are just “good to have”
In that case they better charge less money
Yes, they better watch out for substandard chips especially when the semiconductor manufacturers are trying to rush out production to meet the demand.
…….while at at, please remove the high price tag too. Bcoz you give less, so you should charge less.
Go get a horse then.
horse cost more to maintain n feed
at least 1-3k a month, better buy a used car
Used cars have expensive gearboxes or fuel pumps or dangerous airbags to do costly replacements. A horse is more cost effective and more reliable. You will never worry about petrol prices anymore.
The turf clubs must have a high regard of your expertise in cleaning up their stables.
Thank god my car is analog.The only computers it has is the ecu and my brain
Msian cars should go further and remove the signal stalk, it is rarely used here after all. And while we’re at it, can remove rear brake lights since owners here never cared if they worked at all. And to hell with all the safety features, cuz all we cared is the lowest price to buy.
My car comes with full digital cockpit, I find it very cool feature at first few months but then I feel the old school analog machinism is more dynamic. For the in house navigation system I think most people do not rely on it because the map do not update itself and also it cannot tell the traffic status. Connect to Apple Carplay or Android Auto using Waze or Google Map is more accurate. So if remove of digital instrument and in house navigation should be acceptable by most during this shortage chip period.
Let’s go back to Flinstone’s no frill zero emission era.
So now coming soon, only selling kosong spec?
No wonder Hyundai bring in Hyundai Elantra kosong RM 140k.
But In 2021, not many want to buy old car, kosong spec
Meanwhile, Proton X50 Kosong Standard spec stop production due to Low Demand.
If they charge less, then maybe its ok. Car is a high value and long term thing, I would prefer to wait for it than taking a downgraded car.
Soon new cars come with carburetors again hahahahahaaa
Auto makers don’t use carburetors anymore because it’s too difficult for carbureted engines to meet the increasingly strict exhaust emissions regulations.