Škoda Auto is unable to produce 100,000 cars this year due to missing chips. According to DPA, the head of the company, Thomas Schäfer, stated this in an interview with the German newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine. Last year, Škoda Auto produced about 940,000 cars, the DPA pointed out.
“The lack of chips hurts immensely, partly because demand for our cars remains very high,” said Schäfer. However, he hoped that the problems with the lack of chips would ease somewhat in the coming weeks, thanks to higher production in Malaysia. “The chip crisis will continue next year as well, but perhaps it will no longer be as strong as in 2021,” he added.
Škoda Auto is part of the German Volkswagen Group. He announced on Friday that Škoda Auto’s sales fell by 34.3 percent year on year to 53,900 vehicles in August. The rate of decline thus accelerated slightly from 30.9 percent in July. In the first eight months of the year, however, Škoda Auto’s sales increased by 4.4 percent to 644,200 vehicles.
Last month, the magazine Škodovácký odborář stated that the Mladá Boleslav carmaker continues to cancel part of the shifts due to missing chips that are used in on-board electronics. According to unions, problems can be expected in the autumn.
Škoda Auto operates three production plants in the Czech Republic, but also produces 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.