Daimler to stabilise supply chain

DETROIT:

Daimler AG Chief Executive Officer Ola Kaellenius told Reuters on Friday the automaker hopes to stabilise its supply chain for semiconductors during this quarter, but expects real relief from shortages of chips will not arrive until 2023. Kaellenius, who is visiting Mercedes operations in the United States, said production of Mercedes vehicles during the fourth quarter will be lower than a year ago, which was an unusually strong quarter as the company began recovering from pandemic shutdowns. “We cannot have 100% certainty” about supplies of semiconductors, Kaellenius said. Covid-related shutdowns this summer at Malaysian plants that process semiconductors set back the auto industry’s efforts to recover production lost earlier in the year. “We hope to be able to stabilise the situation in the fourth quarter, and take that to the next level in 2022,” he said. However, he said, major chip producers are saying restrictions in supply could continue into 2023. “We have to stay flexible,” Kaellenius said. Daimler is managing supply-chain disruptions on top of planning for a split of the company into a standalone luxury vehicle company, Mercedes-Benz, and a separate commercial truck business.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2021.

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