The delivery times for certain new cars are getting longer and longer because production is halted due to the lack of chips. There are now waiting times of up to 14 months for individual models.
This is a market overview in the current issue of AUTO STRASSENVERKEHR (20/2021). Accordingly, due to the low availability of semiconductors - the main component of microchips - the manufacturers have to decide which models they produce and which bands are currently left behind. "It is currently being prioritized where the chips go," says Philipp Sayler von Amende, head of the online new car exchange carwow.de. High-margin models in particular are currently being offered with relatively short delivery times. Of course, this includes high-volume series, but also electric cars. With these series, the waiting times are usually one to two months.
For other vehicles, however, the delivery time is over a year. The wait for the Audi models E-Tron GT and Q4 E-Tron, the Dacia Spring and the Mercedes A 250 E is currently between 12 and 14 months. The delivery times for models such as the Citroën C4 and Peugeot 3008 are eight or nine months , the BMW models I4 and IX, the Opel Zafira E Life, Audi's E-Tron and the Model S from Tesla. You currently have to wait six months for the electrically powered VW models ID.3 and ID.4.
Improvement in sight only in 2023 or 2024
Semiconductor production is picking up, but when vehicle production plummeted during the corona crisis, manufacturers from the communication and consumer electronics sector reserved production capacities. Global semiconductor production is so busy that the auto industry is currently at the back of the queue. The market observers from Alix-Partners assume that the shortage of semiconductors will lead to the failure of around four million new cars in 2021 - which corresponds to a loss of around 90 billion euros. Gartner analysts have calculated that a recovery is not expected before 2023 or 2024 at the earliest.
This also affects the discounts on new cars. Because if the demand is higher than the supply, discounts lose their importance - a trend that can currently be observed. Because after years of high discounts, discounts are currently stagnating or even being reduced.
You can read more about the current delivery times and a large overview of the waiting times for numerous models in the current issue of AUTO STRASSENVERKEHR, issue 20/2021.
Conclusion
Because of the semiconductor crisis, microchips are in short supply. Since the car industry did not stock up on supplies in time, some assembly lines have now come to a standstill and in some cases car buyers have to wait more than a year for a new car. The situation also has an impact on price reductions, some of which are falling sharply.
