Meghana KandraMercedes-Benz demand is increasing over time, however, customers are left with wait times for more than a year. The interruptions are a result of production disruption because of semi-conductor chip shortages. Daimler Chief Executive says that their customers are waiting for more than a year and it is impacting their demand.
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Daimler Cheif executive Ola Kallenius said, “Demand is huge at Mercedes-Benz and at the same time there are unfortunately severe limitations. For some models, the waiting times are longer than we would like, in some cases over a year.”
In a previous forecast, Kallenius mentioned that the chip shortage impact would continue till 2023. He predicted that the worldwide chip problems will continue, as the structural problems along with pandemic-related problems like lockdown are all linked. More or less the situation is so at the present, as many countries still continue to have lockdown as cases continue to increase unpredictably on occasions. The shortage has already impacted the automakers working on electric vehicles. While some companies have stated that they are picking up their pace, it is still unclear as the demand is not being met. Additionally, when General Motors had to recall its Chevrolet Bolt EVs all over the world, opinions on the safety of EVs started flooding in.
Demand in EVs increasing but assembly plants shut down
Jokingly the assembly plants are known to be on a holiday while the demand keeps increasing. Toyota is one of the biggest automakers in the world, has idling factoring without continuous production. The company has factories all over the world, Canada, Mexico, and the US.
However, the luxury brand company Mercedes Benz customers having wait time of more than a year raises more questions about where the automobile industry is going. If the semi-conductor issue will be resolved anytime soon, and if the industry really meets the zero carbon emission goals set by the government at different locations. In August Mercedes Benz reported that in the US they are nearly killing all their 2022 model year V8-powered cars. Though the company stated the reason as quality issues, and it’s not about supply, it is highly likely that the supply chain pressure is part of the decision.
Evidently, the shortage in chips is going to impact the company’s goals to shift towards EVs in the coming years. It might be too early to talk about other automakers, but there is no denying that there are high chances for other automakers (at least luxury car makers) to have delays introducing electric vehicle fleets.