PRAGUE (Reuters) – Skoda Auto, part of Volkswagen and the Czech Republic’s biggest exporter, will significantly reduce or perhaps halt production from the week starting Oct. 18 until the end of the year due to the global shortage of chips hobbling the automotive sector.
Carmakers around the world are struggling with a shortage of semiconductor chips amid a post-pandemic rise in demand, and the disruption is hampering the Czech economy and others in central Europe reliant on the auto industry.
“Not even Skoda Auto is able to avoid this global crisis,” Skoda Auto spokesman Tomas Kotera said in an emailed statement.
He said the main reason for the hit to production was the large number of unfinished vehicles waiting for chips.
“We therefore are first concentrating on finishing these vehicles so that we can get them to customers at the soonest,” Kotera said.
Skoda, a bellwether for the Czech economy and major employer, said it remained committed to maintaining jobs and wages for its workers.
It predicted a gradual calming of the situation for chips in the second half of 2022.
(Reporting by Robert Muller, Writing by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet; Editing by Mark Potter)
