Stellantis expects the problems caused by the global chip shortage this quarter to be greater than in the previous quarter.
Stellantis, the company behind car brands such as Peugeot, Opel, Fiat and Jeep, thinks that the production problems due to the global chip shortage will be greater this current second quarter than in the first three months of the year. Back then, the various brands of Stellantis produced 190,000 cars less than planned, 11 percent of the planned production. In the current period, production will lag even further, the group expects. It does not yet provide concrete figures for this. It does expect the situation to normalize somewhat in the second half of the year. Previously, Volkswagen and Ford also indicated that there are still difficult times to come, but that it looks a bit more favorable for the second half of the year.
Stellantis also announced that it had achieved more sales in the first quarter than in the first three months of the corona year 2020. The income rose by 14 percent to € 37 billion. Stellantis delivered 1.56 million cars, an increase of 11 percent. At the end of April it was already announced that in the first quarter Stellantis had the largest market share in Europe of all car manufacturers with passenger cars and light commercial vehicles combined.
Due to chip shortages, various car brands have had to shut down factories several times. This has already happened at most American and European car manufacturers in recent months. Car manufacturers scaled back production and orders at the start of the corona crisis. At the same time, the demand for computers and mobile phones for working from home and things like game consoles for entertainment increased during lockdowns, leaving car companies at the back of the queue with new orders.