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Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

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Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please write back when Tesla learns how to correctly apply paint to a car or fit body panels, or well, pretty much everything else that makes an actual car a car instead of a disposable gadget.

Ah yes, the most important function of a car, the paint...

The tone of GP is poor, but yes, the paint is really important if you want your car to last more than 5 years, especially if you live near the sea. And if you only take your car out on weekend and summers and can not put your car in a garage, a poor paint job will cost you even more.

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#72
I looked for a simple non-electronic car recently to buy, and found out that the government has mandated numerous safety systems requiring electronics like backup cameras, no seatbelt alarms, blind spot monitoring, lane assist etc, and in the upcoming infrastructure bill there is a rider to add breathalyzers to every new car made in America. (ref below)

Is there an officially designated cost/reduced risk ratio that policy makers can go by to determine if a regulation is worth while?

Is a regulation that costs 1 billion dollars to save 10 lives at 100 million a life considered worthwhile?

Is a regulation that costs 1 billion dollars to save 1 million lives at a cost of 1000 a life worthwhile?

Is there even an officially designated cost per life saved for new safety regulations?

If not it seems like a slippery slope, and the government can never overreach as long as it can justify the regulation by saying it saves a single life.

Reference: https://time.com/6086981/bipartisan-infrastructure-bill-brea...

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#73

As a chip supplier, I'd be feeling a lot of pressure right now. In the short term you can squeeze and the tail can wag the dog for a bit. But longer term this opens the door wide open for new competitors in the market and / or vertical integration.

Maybe? It seems to me the overheads of establishing a fab process anywhere near the incumbents are astronomical. I would guess that even this bottleneck in supply would represent a minuscule fraction of that overhead. What are the actual numbers?

> the overheads of establishing a fab process anywhere near the incumbents are astronomical.

That's a big opportunity in itself.

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#74
post #17

That is good news for planet earth!

We're trying to switch everyone to electric. That's not going to happen if we can't build new cars.

A far better way to reduce energy consumption is to not move mass in the first place.

Not building new cars certainly helps with that goal (since older working ICE cars do not junked anyway, they just go to someone else).

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#75

Toyota was one of the few (only?) companies to keep a large stockpile of chips on hand to continue production in case of a supply interruption. They kept something like two years worth on hand. I guess 18 months of doing the extremely heavy lifting for the whole industry has taken its toll and now they're in the same boat.

Maybe this is a dumb question, but does anyone still produce cars without chips? It's possible, and in the current environment it seems like it would be a major competitive advantage-- and might be more reliable in general.

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#76
post #2

This so-called “transitory inflation” is really starting to seem like it will parlay into full blown inflation.

A shortage is not inflation

Supply and demand change is what increases or decreases costs. If demand don't adapt, there will be inflation to force it to adapt :)

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please write back when Tesla learns how to correctly apply paint to a car or fit body panels, or well, pretty much everything else that makes an actual car a car instead of a disposable gadget.

The concerns you express aren't noticable or bothersome except to a small percentage of enthusiasts. Teslas are mechanically far more reliable and require less maintenance that other cars.

Most people would consider the ability to put together the stuff you do see as a pretty good indicator of your ability to put together the stuff you can’t see.

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please write back when Tesla learns how to correctly apply paint to a car or fit body panels, or well, pretty much everything else that makes an actual car a car instead of a disposable gadget.

The concerns you express aren't noticable or bothersome except to a small percentage of enthusiasts. Teslas are mechanically far more reliable and require less maintenance that other cars.

They have not even been out long enough to make that claim. Especially when comparing to Toyota.

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#80
post #17

That is good news for planet earth!

We're trying to switch everyone to electric. That's not going to happen if we can't build new cars.

Well Toyota, specifically made bets that the world would not be moving to electric cars and thus, aren't producing them.

So yeah, Toyota (again, specifically) reducing production actually is better for the environment.

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