The shortage of car chips could intensify in the third quarter

The shortage of car chips could intensify in the coming months. This was stated by the German car group Volkswagen, which also pointed out the difficulties in solving this problem. "Despite indications that semiconductor shortage problems are beginning to ease, we expect a very challenging third quarter in terms of supply," said Alexander Seitz, CFO of the Volkswagen brand of the same name. On Thursday, Volkswagen announced that due to chip problems that hit the automotive industry at the end of 2020, the number of cars produced this year fell by a higher six-digit number. Nevertheless, the group managed to achieve record profits for the first half of 2021, as it preferred high-margin models such as Porsche and Audi when allocating chips, which are a key part of modern vehicles. "Despite this success, I recommend staying firmly on the ground," said Porsche CFO Lutz Meschke, pointing to the continuing tense situation in the semiconductor market. Volkswagen, like its competitors Daimler, BMW, GM and Ford, has been hit hard by semiconductor supply problems. According to the automotive group, it managed the situation quite well, but expects a "certain negative impact" in the third quarter as well. The carmaker Audi, which contributes the most to Volkswagen's profit, said on Friday that the coming months will also be marked by a critical supply situation. "Audi continues to work intensively on countermeasures, but given the persistent shortage, it is not expected that the loss of production could be fully compensated during the year," the opinion said.