Due to a lack of chips, Škoda Auto cannot complete up to 5,000 cars a week. The company currently has about 33,000 incomplete cars in parking areas, said Michael Oeljeklaus, head of production and logistics at Škoda Auto. Due to the lack of semiconductor components, according to him, the company will probably cancel 60 shifts by the beginning of the August plant-wide holiday.
Škoda Auto will produce around 21,000 cars a week in the Czech Republic, while approximately 3,000 to 5,000 cannot be completed due to missing chips. The carmaker lacks the ESP control unit in the octaves and the window control units in practically all models the most.
According to the current estimate, the company will produce 50,000 incomplete vehicles by the beginning of a two-week company-wide holiday in early August, he told the Oeljeklaus server. According to him, the company will probably have to cancel 60 shifts by the beginning of the holiday. “Production may stop for a whole day, three shifts at a time, or more days, but of course we do not want to stop production for a longer period,” said Oeljeklaus.
The company’s management is negotiating with the unions that production would not stop completely even during a company-wide holiday. In such a case, the carmaker would focus on completing the unfinished cars. “We would like to complete 20,000 cars in these two weeks, which are now standing on our parking lots,” Oeljeklaus told iHNED.cz .
According to Oeljeklaus’ estimate, chip deliveries could improve by the end of the year. “In the fourth quarter, the market will return to normal and we believe that there will be enough parts to complete the cars that we will have to park again in the meantime,” Oeljeklaus hopes.
So far, Škoda is putting unfinished cars in parking areas, which have a capacity of 55,000 cars. According to Oeljeklaus, 33,000 cars are currently parked on them.
Škoda Auto operates three production plants in the Czech Republic, namely in Mladá Boleslav, Kvasiny, and Vrchlabí. However, it also manufactures cars in China, Russia, Slovakia, and India, mostly through group partnerships, as well as in Ukraine and Kazakhstan in cooperation with local partners. It operates in more than 100 markets. In the first quarter, the carmaker increased its operating profit by 46 percent to 448 million euros (approximately CZK 11.4 billion).