Wouldn’t carmakers instead buy capacity from people making USB chargers etc? I would think the cost of downtime would have them paying any price.
Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022
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Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022
#12They used to be big back in the day when hot hatches ruled and we had Golf vs Astra (Vauxhall for the UK) but then we got crossovers and mini-SUV and GM had their own problems to invest in the brand. Nowadays they make rebadged Peugeot/Citroen cars.
Opel Manta .. they made even movies about two movies about it :-)
opel rekord is the real deal, man.
Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you suggesting the plant closure is due more to waning popularity of their cars rather than availability of parts?
Unpopularity probably affects their negotiating abilities.
Unpopular doesn't mean bad sales numbers.
If you listen to the white collar internet you'd think that nobody buys Nissan and FCA (I'm sorry, Stellantis) but that couldn't be further from reality.
Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022
#14Idk about recent years,but opel has already been looking at closing sites in Germany, Bochum I believe was the most recent one. This smells like an excuse to do so eventually (Whether justified or not)
Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022
#15Wouldn’t carmakers instead buy capacity from people making USB chargers etc? I would think the cost of downtime would have them paying any price.
It takes 1 to 2 quarters for silicon to be manufactured, we are seeing the results of decisions that were finalized in early 2021 with regard to what is available today to buy.
Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you suggesting the plant closure is due more to waning popularity of their cars rather than availability of parts?
Unpopularity probably affects their negotiating abilities.
Opel is owned by one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world now, so it's more likely they are diverting parts to their more popular brands.
Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022
#17Edit: Too many downvotes for my view that this Opel case is yet another symptom of the wrong handling of the panedmic by any governments, leading to inflation and supply chain disruptions.
If opinions are downvoted then I do not need to participate.
Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unpopularity probably affects their negotiating abilities.
Unpopular doesn't mean bad sales numbers. If you listen to the white collar internet you'd think that nobody buys Nissan and FCA (I'm sorry, Stellantis ) but that couldn't be further from reality.
Opel annual sales in 2019 was 800k, half their peak of 1.6 million in 1999 and there sales graph is basically a steady continuous drop in that period: https://carsalesbase.com/europe-opel-vauxhall/
The people who historically would have bought Opels or Vauxhalls (thanks to high numbers of UK imports, you used to see both here) now tend to buy Toyotas and Kias mostly today, at least in my country.
Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022
#19Wouldn’t carmakers instead buy capacity from people making USB chargers etc? I would think the cost of downtime would have them paying any price.
Auto chips are usually a higher grade than consumer. They have to be able to handle wide ranges of temperature and moisture and also handle vibration. There is usually an extensive testing process until a chip gets qualified for auto production. This is especially true for chips used in the drivetrain and/or safety systems.
There are some cases where a foundry is already qualified for an auto grade chip and they make a consumer chip in addition to it on the same equipment. They can stop making the consumer chip and devote 100% of their capacity to the auto grade chip.
If that is a possibility, I am sure it is already happening. But a lot of foundries that make consumer chips simply aren't qualified to make auto grade chips, so they cannot move production.
Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022
#20They used to be big back in the day when hot hatches ruled and we had Golf vs Astra (Vauxhall for the UK) but then we got crossovers and mini-SUV and GM had their own problems to invest in the brand. Nowadays they make rebadged Peugeot/Citroen cars.
Opel Manta .. they made even movies about two movies about it :-)
Cheesy German movies from the 80's.