PARIS (Reuters) – The supply of semiconductors to car manufacturers will remain difficult until the end of next year, said Carlos Tavares, the director general of Stellantis, in an interview published on Sunday by Le Parisien.
The entire automotive market has been disrupted since last year by shortages of chips, linked among other things to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on supply chains and changing consumption patterns in major countries. industrialized during periods of confinement.
“The situation will remain very complicated until the end of 2023, then will ease afterwards, in particular because the consumer electronics market is dipping a little,” Carlos Tavares told Le Parisien during an interview with his Renault counterpart, Luca of Meo.
“Semiconductor makers have a renewed interest in doing business with us. Especially as they happily raise their prices,” he added.
Carlos Tavares estimated that the massive investments announced in the European Union and the United States to promote the relocation of semiconductor manufacturing, which is now hyper-concentrated in Asia, should promote a gradual return to normal.
“When these investments materialize, there will be semiconductors, and even an overabundance. But we will have to wait at least three years,” said the CEO of the Franco-Italian group which owns the Peugeot, Citron and Fiat brands, among others. .
“Today I have trouble finding the basic chip that raises and lowers the window. Without it, I cannot produce the car”, he regrets in this interview.
The shortage of semiconductors continues to weigh on manufacturers’ sales in France: while new car registrations increased by just over 5% last month according to figures from the Automotive Platform (PFA) published on Saturday, they remain down nearly 12% since the start of the year.
(Edited by Marc Angrand)