Volkswagen’s lineup of ID. electric vehicles has hit a week-long production speed bump due to the global semiconductor crisis.
Volkswagen will temporarily halt ID. family production lines at its Zwickau and Dresden, Germany vehicle manufacturing facilities due to the global semiconductor shortage. It is the first time that Volkswagen has been forced to halt production completely due to the parts shortage, and comes at a time when many automakers are focused on finishing out the fiscal year on a high note.
Around 5,000 EVs will be displaced due to the shortage, according to a report from Automobilwoche, a German media outlet covering the automotive sector.
Automobilewoche said:
“So far, VW’s e-car production has come through the chip crisis rather lightly…The production of electric cars in Zwickau and Dresden therefore continued without major interruptions. But now, it is also affecting the e-models built there.”
Volkswagen builds the ID.3, ID.4, Audi Q4 e-tron, and Cupra Born at these facilities. Production of each of these cars will halt for the next week.
The announcement comes just a few weeks after CEO of the Volkswagen Auto Group Herbert Diess came under fire from union and labor representatives after he stated some 30,000 jobs could be lost at VW facilities if a slow transition to electric vehicles continued. Diess later redacted his statement following pressure from unionized groups and indicated that VW’s focus moving forward is innovation, not the termination of employees.
Volkswagen said it delivered 122,100 all-electric vehicles globally in the third quarter, more than doubling its tally from the same period a year ago. So far this year, the German car company has delivered 293,100 EVs, maintaining its position as the most popular EV maker in the United Kingdom with 109,862 sales logged this year to date. That’s good enough for a 15.3% market share, leading Tesla with 95,237 deliveries, accounting for 13.3% of the UK EV market share, according to EU-EVs.com.
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