The German automotive industry is facing supply shortfalls because of the burgeoning demand, primarily in China, reported Financial Times Deutschland.
A shortage of parts means that Volkswagen will have to slow production in Wolfsburg from Monday while BMW is already struggling with lack of parts although it is managing to maintain normal production.
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Daimler told the newspaper that capacities in the car parts supply sector are running at full stretch due to increasing demand. The carmaker is negotiating with its suppliers and said it has not yet suffered any negative effects on production.
CEO Dieter Zetsche told Reuters: “”The supply industry overall is under quite a strain. Everyone is struggling, some successfully, others run into a hiccup.”
The automotive industry is benefiting from the sales boom in China and the US but suppliers, who, during the sales downturn of the past couple of years, cut factories and workers, have struggled to keep pace.
Earlier this week Ford announced it has had to temporarily lay off workers at its Dearborn truck plant near Detroit because of a shortage of parts for the V6 engines for the F-150 pickup.
The shortage has affected availability of the 3.7 litre V6 and the new 3.5 litre EcoBoost V6, both of which come from Ford’s engine plant in Cleveland.
The F-150 is Ford’s biggest selling and most profitable vehicle. About 3,000 hourly and salaried workers on three shifts have been laid off for one week during which they will receive unemployment benefits with the company topping this up to approximately 95% of their take home pay.
Ford policy prohibits it from naming the supplier of the parts but said the problem is a capacity issue, not a quality issue.
Analysts believe that shortages may continue to trouble the industry for some years as vehicle sales slowly return to past levels – topping 16m a year in the US. Ford said that no other vehicles or plants are affected by the V6 engine parts shortage.
