It's been reported that the shortage of electronic parts could weigh more heavily on carmaker Volkswagen than expected.
The specialist German publication Manager Magazin reported on Thursday that the manufacturer is likely to have problems fully meeting the five-year plan that it adopted last week.
Sales goals of almost 10 million cars targeted for 2022 and almost 11 million in 2023 are probably too optimistic in view of the lack of chips, according to a crisis manager involved.
Even if things go "halfway reasonably," VW will probably be below the figures expected for 2021 in the coming year.
For the year now ending, the group is calculating sales of about 9 million vehicles. In the worst-case scenario, the manufacturer might reach just 8 million sales in 2022, the report says.
Top management expects the chip crisis to further worsen the situation, especially at the core brand Volkswagen Passenger Cars and the subsidiary Skoda.
Volkswagen has its own "task force" to deal with chip procurement - but it had already become clear that the supply bottlenecks were likely to drag on for some time.
The head of the works council, Daniela Cavallo, had also just warned of continuing problems. "The coming months will be tough, we have a real lean period ahead of us," she said.
This year, VW and several other carmakers have repeatedly had to introduce short-time work because of a lack of electronic parts.
The main VW plant in Wolfsburg is running at low capacity, and is expected to produce fewer than 400,000 cars this year - a level similar to the late 1950s.
In other VW plants temporary workers are already losing their jobs due to a lack of semiconductors and the resulting production losses. Officially, the company hinted last week at a possible gradual easing of the chip crisis in 2022.
Source: DPA
