Chip Shortage Forcing Daimler to Stall Production
In today’s update on the semiconductor shortage, we learn that Daimler has elected to place over 18,000 Mercedes-Benz employees on reduced schedules. With an insufficient number of chips, the manufacturer cannot produce vehicles with sufficient reliability and has decided to ease off until resupplies are more predictable. Unfortunately, that’s unlikely to happen for at least a few months — forcing Mercedes to roll with the punches much like Subaru, General Motors, and Ford. Though this is a problem that’s impacting the entirety of the automotive industry.
Daimler made its announcement on Wednesday, stating that facilities in Bremen and Rastatt will be the first (and hopefully only) plants affected by the stall.
The manufacturer explained that while all employees will likely be subjected to scheduling changes, the nature of the chip shortage makes things difficult to predict. There’s a chance that not everyone will need to see a big drop in hours, but also one where German employees are forced to endure prolonged shutdowns. For now, the strategy involves a week-long production stall with staff allowed to continue work on special projects — beginning on April 23rd.
Rastatt employs roughly 6,500 workers and is responsible for some of the brand’s smaller vehicles, including the GLA and A-Class. Meanwhile, Bremen has room for over 12,000 people working on the GLC, C-Class, and EQC EV. Due to the nature of the situation, the manufacturer said it could not yet predict what kind of production losses it might endure as a result of the shutdowns and plans on making another announcement next week.
[Image: Franz12/Shutterstock]
Consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulations. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, he has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed about the automotive sector by national broadcasts, participated in a few amateur rallying events, and driven more rental cars than anyone ever should. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and learned to drive by twelve. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer and motorcycles.
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>With an insufficient number of chips, the manufacturer cannot produce vehicles with sufficient reliability That's odd. I would have assumed with less electronics, a Mercedes would be MORE reliable.
Easy solution: Take the chips from the 'infotainment' which we don't need the vehicle to provide (can bring our own) and use those for engine management and the power door locks and the stuff which actually gets the vehicle down the road. If the automakers are as competent as their commercials portray, this change should take about 2 weeks. (Maybe 100 days at the outside.) [If that isn't quick enough, have the hero hard-wire a last-gen smartphone into the dash to take over for the vehicle's brains - this can be accomplished in around 8 minutes. Refer to Every Nerdy Adventure Movie Ever for proof.]
The German electronics are about as reliable as the British electronics (i.e. Lucas). Less electronics would make Mercedes more reliable.