Volkswagen says chip shortage is at ‘lowest point’ right now

BERLIN – Volkswagen expects the semiconductor shortage to decrease in the third quarter, but sees the bottlenecks persist in the long term, a board member told Handelsblatt newspaper.

“Right now we have reached the lowest point. We are going to have the toughest six weeks,” Murat Aksel, head of purchasing at the Volkswagen board, told the newspaper in an interview.

He said he expects a chip shortage of about 10% in the long term, as it takes up to two years to build production capacity.

Volkswagen is preparing for the bottlenecks by expanding chip storage and is currently classifying the delivery risk of all parts of the model, he added.

Automakers and electronics makers around the world have been hit hard by chip production delays caused by a global shortage.

Volkswagen AG has not been able to build 100,000 cars because of the shortage, CEO Herbert Diess said in March, adding that the group would not be able to make up for the shortage in 2021.

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