Nissan slashes production due to chip shortage - report

Nissan is suspending production at one of its Japanese plants due to the worldwide semiconductor chip shortage.

Reuters reports the company’s Kyushu factory will be idled for eight days in May while the company arranges new supply.

“Due to the (global chip) shortage, Nissan is adjusting production and is taking necessary actions to ensure recovery,” a Nissan spokesperson told Reuters.

The Kyushu plant assembles, among other vehicles, the X-Trail sold in Australia.

Two other Nissan assembly plants, Oppama and Shatai, will reportedly cancel all night shift operations over 15 days from 10-28 May.

The coronavirus pandemic, along with a major fire at a Japanese chip-making factory, has cost the auto industry tens of thousands of cars in lost production.

Other major factors in the chip shortage include an increased demand for consumer electronics such as mobile phones, computers and video game consoles.

This semiconductor chip shortage has affected several automakers.

Jaguar Land Rover announced that it too would be temporarily shutting down its UK factories.

A “limited period of non-production” has been enacted at its plants in Castle Bromwich and Halewood where nearly 6,000 employees work.

Models affected by the temporary shutdown include the Jaguar XE, XF and F-Type and the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque.

Daimler will cut the working hours of up to 18,500 employees working across two Mercedes-Benz plants in Bremen and Rastatt.

Some companies have had to redesign or tweak their cars due to the inability to provide certain equipment that requires the chips.

Peugeot announced this week that it would be replacing digital instrument clusters with analogue ones in its 308.

“It’s a nifty and agile way of getting around a real hurdle for car production, until the ‘chips’ crisis ends,” a spokesperson for Peugeot told Reuters.