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Transportation Businesses

Toyota To Cut Global Production By 40% Due To Global Microchip Shortage (bbc.com) 73

Posted by BeauHD from the computers-on-wheels dept.
Toyota is to slash worldwide vehicle production by 40% in September because of the global microchip shortage. The BBC reports: The world's biggest carmaker had planned to make almost 900,000 cars next month, but has now reduced that to 540,000 vehicles. Volkswagen, the world's second-biggest car producer, has warned it may also be forced to cut output further. Toyota's other rivals, including General Motors, Ford, Nissan, Daimler, BMW and Renault, have already scaled back production in the face of the global chip shortage. Until now, Toyota had managed to avoid doing the same, with the exception of extending summer shutdowns by a week in France the Czech Republic and Turkey.

New cars often include dozens of microchips but Toyota benefited from having built a larger stockpile of chips - also called semiconductors - as part of a revamp to its business continuity plan, developed in the wake of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami a decade ago. The decision to reduce output now has been precipitated by the resurgence of coronavirus cases across Asia hitting supplies. The company will make some cuts in August at its plants in Japan and elsewhere. The bulk of the cuts -- 360,000 -- will come in September and affect factories in Asia and the US. The aim for Toyota as a whole is to make up for any lost volume by the end of 2021.
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Toyota To Cut Global Production By 40% Due To Global Microchip Shortage More

Toyota To Cut Global Production By 40% Due To Global Microchip Shortage

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  • Real Concern (Score:2, Interesting)

    by cygnusvis ( 6168614 )

    The real concern here is how it effects the workers and economies downstream in the chain. The mask wont help when you're starving to death because you're out of a job.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      What "effects" the workers is their parents, they are the ones who "effected" their birth.

      You wanted "affects".

      • No, see, if there's pandemics, people get bored at home and seek out traditional forms of entertainment, which in turn effects future workers.

    • jacked up princes of new and used cars and now doing BIG sales trying to make it seems like you're gonna save huge when in fact you're gonna pay more than before.

      • So glad my wife and I both bought new cars in 2019.

      • Well... supply is constricted and demand isn't, so prices must go up. Can't avoid the fundamental equations of the market, and dealers have to entice you to come through their door instead of a competitor's.

        C'est la vie, right?

    • Re:Real Concern (Score:4, Insightful)

      by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Thursday August 19, 2021 @08:51PM (#61709801)

      The real concern here is how it effects the workers and economies downstream in the chain.

      When you're dead [kctv5.com], you won't care about your job.

  • How they laughed (Score:3)

    by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Thursday August 19, 2021 @05:09PM (#61708951)

    ...when Tesla started their own chip-production.

  • We can just grow brains in petri dishes!

  • Fuck 'em. (Score:3)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Thursday August 19, 2021 @05:49PM (#61709149)

    Toyota is the company that is pushing hydrogen cars which would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that "blue hydrogen" is worse than coal. Honestly, the more money they lose, the better the world will be.

    • Japan has limited resources for energy, but offshore deposits of methane hydrates one of very limited options. Wind , geothermal, some hydro. Coincidentally Japan interest in hydrogen. For some use cases might be feasible.

      • I have no problem with niche usage. The problem is they pushing hydrogen 100% and BEVs 0%. There is no way in hell that we could produce enough green hydrogen for a global fleet inside a century. Seriously, you are going to need fusion reactors to make it happen.

        • A lot of big long haul truck makers are betting on hydrogen, and it makes sense for that use case. Once the infrastructure is there for trucks then it is easy for cars to piggyback on it. Canada has made H2 part of our long term energy planning as well.

          • A lot of big long haul truck makers are betting on hydrogen

            Honestly, long haul trucking need to go the way of the dodo. It does way too much damage to our roads so they either need to be taxed by weight or better yet, just do long hauls using trains.

            • Honestly, long haul trucking need to go the way of the dodo. It does way too much damage to our roads so they either need to be taxed by weight or better yet, just do long hauls using trains.

              Good luck with that. Adding taxes to shippers just gets passed on to consumers. It may (or more likely not) result in better roads.

              And trains are pretty much constrained by existing infrastructure. Good luck laying new freight track anywhere, ever again.

              • Good luck with that. Adding taxes to shippers just gets passed on to consumers.

                I'm OK with this and it may result in increased use of trains.

                And trains are pretty much constrained by existing infrastructure. Good luck laying new freight track anywhere, ever again.

                I know for a fact this isn't true.

                • What new major freight rail expansions are you aware of? Mostly they seem to be adding tanker cars to make up for lack of pipelines.

                  • Norfolk Southern Railway has made a handful of expansions for freight.

                    expansion map: https://upload.wikimedia.org/w... [wikimedia.org]
                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

                    • The two examples you linked did not appear to be adding new rail, just upgrading what was already there.

                    • Yeah, seems like it, my bad. I there are significant obstacles/opposition for rail expansion then it's due to cheap trucking and low cost air freight. Once they have to pay the environmental cost of that then that will likely change. Money is a powerful motivator.

                    • I'm in Canada but I expect the US is similar in this regard. Many of our towns and cities were originally built around the railways (and the rivers), but even though rail freight is both a historic and integral part of our economy, it still has many detractors. Trains are known to start fires. I don't know if they started the fire in Lytton BC, but a recent lawsuit alleges they did.

                      https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada... [www.cbc.ca]

                      Also, trains often carry hazardous cargo through those same towns and cities that wer

                    • Trains are known to start fires. I don't know if they started the fire in Lytton BC, but a recent lawsuit alleges they did.

                      This actually seems like something that could be addressed with a helping hand from technology. However, I suspect humans are to blame. It's really weird how many pyromaniacs there are and humans are just stupid with weird motivations. I don't think people blame humans for enough of what happens on this planet.

                      I'm quite certain that if you were to try and build a new railway anywhere today, the NIMBY's and protestors would be out in full force.

                      They are absolutely everywhere and they oppose everything. Dirty energy? "no, save the Earth!" Clean energy? "It looks ugly, not here!"
                      It takes time but you clear the stupid hurdles and build it

    • GM and Honda have also spent a lot of money on hydrogen.

      GM in particular is planning to build hydrogen vehicles for the military. We may be pulling out of Afghanistan, but we will surely make war in the desert again soon.

      • GM and Honda will jump ship at the first sign of trouble because they are hedging their bets.
        The US has lost it's taste for war for the next few decades but politicians buying crap we don't need "for the military" because it's built in their area, isn't about to evaporate.

        With the advent of climate change we're more likely to see civil wars and regional conflicts over farmland. I doubt we'll see more involvement in the middle east because they don't posses any resources we want. However, I wouldn't be sur

        • GM and Honda will jump ship at the first sign of trouble because they are hedging their bets.

          Toyota has alternate options available. It's not like they're new to EVs. They might have to buy batteries from someone else, but they would have had to do that anyway.

          The US has lost it's taste for war for the next few decades

          Don't bet on it. It's not like The People are calling the shots.

          but politicians buying crap we don't need "for the military" because it's built in their area, isn't about to evaporate.

          Neither is the culture of endless war.

          • Don't bet on it. It's not like The People are calling the shots.

            You're not wrong but war power of the US President are being reined in and frankly, you need public support to at least start a war.

            Neither is the culture of endless war.

            the culture isn't endless wars, it's culture of wartime spending. Republicans inevitably get on board with addressing climate change because it will become a winning political issue. When that happens the nation will become less divided but there is currently a missing trigger element that will arise. It could be a simple as older generations becoming increasingly ineffectua

  • Days gone by ... (Score:3)

    by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Thursday August 19, 2021 @05:56PM (#61709191)

    If only companies could make cars w/o computers in them ...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by crow ( 16139 )

      I wish they would be more specific than just a shortage of "chips." You can buy plenty of chips, not just the right ones. Specialized chips that manage airbags is apparently one example that is in short supply.

      • I wish they would be more specific than just a shortage of "chips." You can buy plenty of chips, not just the right ones.

        Went to Walmart the other day, they had plenty of chips, all different kinds. I got Jalapeño flavored ...

      • I wish they would be more specific than just a shortage of "chips." You can buy plenty of chips, not just the right ones. Specialized chips that manage airbags is apparently one example that is in short supply.

        I was lucky enough to get a good deal on a brand new MY 2020 in the spring, but the pickings have become pretty slim since then. My sales rep was mentioning that while they were still taking orders for new 2021 (and now switching to 2022) factory builds, some of the options that had previously been available have been deleted from the order sheets, things like radar cruise control, wireless phone charging, laser lighting, some audio options, etc. Mostly only the high end (high margin) models remain unaff

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by crow ( 16139 )

          If you're dealing with Tesla, features were never tied to model years. Typically the model year listed for your car just meant what year the car was made.

          • I'm not dealing with Tesla, and to be honest continuously running changes are not something likely to attract me to them in the future. Totally fine if that is what works for them though.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by crow ( 16139 )

              The practical result in most cases is that you don't have to wait for the next model year to get new features. Rarely does it result in removing features.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Octorian ( 14086 )

        Lots of chips are now out-of-stock with long lead times now. Huge swaths of microcontrollers are affected by this, but lots of peripheral chips are affected as well.

        Ask anyone working on any sort of embedded device right now, and you'll probably get an earful of griping.

    • ABS uses a sensor, a welcome safety feature but car still works fine without but a sudden stop situation on less than ideal surfaces ABS likely helpful. One example.

    • Why would you want a car without computers?
      - performance has improved massively by switching from carburettors to computer-controlled injection
      - the air we breathe is a lot cleaner thanks to the same
      - safety has increased massively by using systems like ABS and ESP. And yes, I know you can build a mechanical ABS, but those are heavier and more limited than computer-controlled ABS. Forget about mechanical ESP though.
      - Comfort has improved, with e.g. HVAC where all you have to do is set the temperature and th

  • Toyota planned well and mitigated the impact for a while but it failed to do like Henry Ford and keep nearly everything in-house.

    Serious people will build their own fabs. Gamblers will roll the dice.

    • Yeah, weird thing along with this is that EVERYONE (the media) was blaming the 'shortage' on the US based car companies cutting their contracts due to covid.
      They pointed out or otherwise implied that foreign companies were not 'so evil' and that they were not/would not suffer a short chip supply.
      It's almost as if this chip supply manufacturing supply is manufactured...

  • What will the Taliban drive?

  • Absolutely nothing to do with pretty much the entire world not really driving anywhere for nearly two years.

    Which also definately has nothing to do with pretty much the oil fields running dry.

    Also, look SQUIRREL!

    • No, there's still plenty of demand for cars. More demand than can be supplied, as evidenced by the increase in price for used cars.

      And why do you think the oil fields are running dry? We keep finding more.

      • car sales had been falling for half a decade before the lockdown (you may remember that little incident known as the global financial crises). demand didnt suddenly increase when the world went into lockdown.

        Prices rise because the marginal cost increases as volume decreases.

  • F that, I am not taking any chances. As a survivor of the great Twinkie shortage of 2013, I've stockpiled on chips. Down in my basement, I've got 20 boxes each of Doritos and Lay's and Cheetos Puffs (not technically a chip, but close enough).

  • "larger stockpile of chips - also called semiconductors"

    Semiconductors are the material. "Integrated circuits" is the other proper name for chips.

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