Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022 • Hacker News Board

Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022

#211

Post by timmg » Thu, Sep 30, 2021, 8:49 PM UTC

aazaa wrote: post #117

> Stellantis has halted production at other plants, including in Europe and Canada, forecasting that it would make 1.4 million fewer vehicles this year due to the chip shortage. For perspective: > Combined sales of FCA and PSA totaled 6,206,000 units in 2020, down by 22% compared to 2019 figures. When the two companies announced their decision to merge, they became the world’s 4th largest automaker by sales volume. I…

> If I'm reading this right, pre-pandemic sales were ~8 million. So a cut 1.4 million due to chip shortages represents an 18% drop. But compared to 2020, the drop is 23%.

But it's a low margin industry. They can now charge above MSRP. If they aren't stuck paying for parts (or labor) of the units they can't make, they might come out ahead. Fewer units, waaaay more profit per unit.

Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022

#212

Post by to11mtm » Thu, Sep 30, 2021, 8:53 PM UTC

asdff wrote: post #42

slownews45 wrote: post #7

Man - the magnitude / impact of these chips shortages on autos in particular is crazy. Regardless of Opel popularity, in the US the F-150 was a best selling vehicle and massive cash cow and they had unfinished vehicles sitting out. These chips have GOT to be a relatively low margin / somewhat lower cost item (ie, feature size can be large). What a miss not to have more coverage for them.

Auto makers should just buy back leased cars from dealerships and harvest the chips. These are cars after all, so the chipsets have probably been the same underpowered crapware for the last ten years.

That doesn't work in practice; there's a legal difference between a part on a new vehicle that was DIT (Damaged In Transit) and one pulled out of a lease.

Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022

#213

Post by thriftwy » Thu, Sep 30, 2021, 8:54 PM UTC

Ekaros wrote: post #208

thriftwy wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the car key + separate wireless immobilizer token is 2FA and it makes me somewhat confident. WRT keyless entry, I actually have figured it out. Central wireless lock is cool. It's keyless start that I'm opposed to.

And how often you keep those separate and operate the car? Can you even safely store one in safe place and still use the car? Or is there more factors. Which then increases the potential failure cases. And I prefer really not to involve anything like pin codes, fingerprints, facial recognition needed for me to drive my own car.

Fingerprints and facial recognition is circus, but physical token is a real thing, and I do keep it separate from my car keys

Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022

#214

Post by moffkalast » Thu, Sep 30, 2021, 9:03 PM UTC

foobarian wrote: post #68

blfr wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I don't like how overcomplicated many products are becoming but even then wouldn't buy a car without at least AC and Bluetooth.

My must-have now is the backup camera with steering integration. I can hook up a trailer like a god now.

"Where is your god now?"

"Right behind you."

Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022

#215

Post by k8sToGo » Thu, Sep 30, 2021, 9:04 PM UTC

caeril wrote: post #21

What I'll never understand is why carmakers don't take advantage of this situation and address a market that's been literally BEGGING for decades for a new product: A simple, basic car, with the ONLY electronic control being for: - Valve timing - Fuel injection - Oxygen and throttle - Emissions There's a market for budget and privacy oriented customers that all carmakers seem to have ignored for two decades now. Give…

You are welcome to buy the most basic Dacia at any time

Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022

#216

Post by beebeepka » Thu, Sep 30, 2021, 9:08 PM UTC

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #190

kbaker wrote: post #114

One important part of the chip shortage is the massive amount of price gouging going on. Every IC is being bought up by new 3rd party distributors to scalp to desperate electronics manufacturers. Take a look at this chip we are just now crossing as an example, click on 'Non-authorized stocking distributors': https://octopart.com/tps2052bdgnr-texas+instruments-699312?r... Win Source has a bunch, but you will pay 6x th…

Why do the scalpers get first dibs on the supply?

That's the right question. As Huang said a few years ago: the more you buy, the more you save

Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022

#217

Post by abfan1127 » Thu, Sep 30, 2021, 9:10 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #155

hutrdvnj wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scalpers are not the problem as they seem, they are like market makers for stock exchanges. They buy low and sell high, always. The factory could tell you that they're currently out of stock for the next few months, but a scalper will never be out of stock, because their prices rises so high that only very few desperate companies would buy. The point is, it's better to have the option to buy something at a high price…

They can only do that by holding onto to supply which makes shortages worse. The same thing happens with ticket scalping at concerts, the difference is it’s more obvious that a sold out concert has empty seats vs supply sitting in a warehouse on the off chance it can be sold at 100x prices.

this is false. the supply would be gone at those low prices. Now they can be had for those who want it badly enough.

Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022

#218

Post by adolph » Thu, Sep 30, 2021, 9:10 PM UTC

kayone wrote: post #107

pomian wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like your idea. The only reason all those accessories are mandated, is because the car industry made it so, thus increasing the value (profit) of a standard car. We could just as easily 'mandate', a different class of vehicle. Call it a classic class, or something. For example, motorcycles don't have back up cameras, air bags, etc. Back to the consumer having a choice. Similar to right to repair.

> motorcycles don't have back up cameras, air bags, etc. why do you think that is?

Organ donation lobby no doubt.

Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022

#219

Post by asdff » Thu, Sep 30, 2021, 9:12 PM UTC

LawnGnome wrote: post #58

asdff wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone driving a car thats older than 15 years old is already driving the car that OP is describing.

Sure, but do they actually want that car, or is that just what they have and can afford?

I mean I drive that car because I don't see what I get out of a newer more costly model. I get my 35mpg and have my blutooth. Everything in the new car is exactly the same as everything in my old car.

Re: Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022

#220

Post by lenzm » Thu, Sep 30, 2021, 9:12 PM UTC

da_chicken wrote: post #187

j-bos wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that JIT, as performed by Toyota, takes into account the differences in difficulty of sourcing different inventories. If this is true, one would expect that Toyota faced shortages later than other manufacturers. Does anyone have a source proving or disproving this?

It can take into account predicted difficulties. The pandemic was difficult to predict, basically everyone predicted incorrectly, and chip supply is functionally inelastic over the short term.

You don't need to know what the pandemic is specifically to plan for a global market shock. Knowing that you have a critical component with a long inelastic supply chain is enough.