It is not so easy for automakers to remedy their vulnerability in electronic components, Volkswagen is struggling with it in the largest market. When does China boss Wöllenstein expect a recovery?
The painful losses due to the lack of electronic chips are likely to keep the Volkswagen Group busy for a while in China, the most important market – but improvement should soon be in sight. “That will certainly remain an issue in the coming months,” said China boss Stephan Wöllenstein on Friday.
The bottlenecks have not been over for the time being, and there is hardly any time to be gained through intermediate storage. “We no longer have the same chance as in the first quarter of buffering the vehicles we need from our fixed stocks,” he explained. “In principle, the vehicles go straight from the factories to retailers.”
According to the manager, the situation in the People’s Republic should ease somewhat in the course of the second half of the year: “We are assuming that chip supply will gradually improve from the third quarter and that we will be able to better serve customer demand again,” said Wöllenstein in a discussion group. CEO Herbert Diess had also indicated that it would probably take a little more to get the problems worldwide under control.
Missing deliveries from chip producers are currently one of the biggest problems in the German core industry. They are costing the carmaker production now, of all times, which would be possible thanks to the stabilization after the Corona low in 2020. In view of the slack demand in the middle of last year, they canceled large orders for electronics.
At the main brand VW Passenger Cars, deliveries in China fell by 16 percent in the second quarter after the strong start in 2021. “On the one hand, this was due to the fact that the same period last year was already relatively strong,” said Wöllenstein. “But the semiconductor supply was also a reason. We also came under pressure in China, especially with the MQB modular system. So that really bothered us in the second quarter. ” The technology platforms offer advantages in terms of standardization and cost reduction – but are susceptible if many identical parts are missing.
VW also wants to gain a stronger foothold in the Chinese market with the fully electric models of the ID series. “The ID.6 has now started,” said Wöllenstein to the SUV. “We are now in the fourth month of sales of the ID.4 models. We want to bring 80,000 to 100,000 of these cars to customers in the country over the year as a whole. ” The development is “certainly influenced here and there by the topic of chips”.
The upper-class subsidiaries are not so severely affected by bottlenecks – many manufacturers install the existing chip stocks there first. At VW there is “overall very gratifying, disproportionate growth in the direction of premium brands,” reported the China boss. “Audi and Porsche have recently both reached historic highs. All in all, that helps us in the group in China. “
New networking technologies should come into play more in the world’s largest car market. You have to consider some special features, said Wöllenstein. “For example, car manufacturers in China have the requirement for e-vehicles that data can be reported to official servers – something like this has to be tracked differently in the software.
The plans for autonomous driving would soon be implemented at simpler levels. “At Level 2, a lot is already happening in China,” explained Wöllenstein. “With fully autonomous driving at levels 4 to 5, it will be a completely different game.” Volkswagen also depends on partnerships: “We are in talks about close cooperation with Chinese high-tech companies.”
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
