Porsche production hit by supply chain problems

BERLIN -- Porsche is currently unable to deliver a number of cars due to a lack of components, including the matrix headlights found on the Macan and Panamera models.

"Currently we have retrofit vehicles again," Porsche production boss Albrecht Reimold told Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche.

Reimold said that in Leipzig, Germany, where the Panamera and Macan models are produced, several hundred vehicles on the factory floor cannot be completed because of the supply bottleneck with the headlights.

Reimold said the situation was still tense in the supply chain: "At the moment it is really very tense because we have to be constantly vigilant," he said. "It is difficult to forecast when the situation will fundamentally improve."

Reimold said the situation also applies to semiconductors, where there is currently no relief in sight, and he pointed to the need for strategic change.

"Thinking ahead, we need to standardize more in components to reduce complexity in supply chains," the production boss said.

Meanwhile, many semiconductor executives are pointing the finger at automakers' lack of understanding of how the chip supply chain works. In principle, the supply chain situation is "very challenging, but still manageable," Reimold added.

Potential gas freeze

A Russian gas supply freeze could also affect the industry in unpredictable ways, despite the best efforts of automakers to save energy or obtain it from other sources, Reimold said.

"The chain always breaks at the weakest link," he said. "Some areas are particularly dependent on gas, such as glass production."

Time and again in recent months, automakers have had to interrupt production or even shut it down completely due to a shortage of components.

Porsche delivered 145,860 vehicles to customers in 2022 in the first half of the year. This represents a decline of five percent compared to the same period last year.

The tense situation on the semiconductor market is compounded by planning problems due to the recent COVID-19 lockdowns in China and the consequences of the war in Ukraine.

Experts at the data service provider IHS Markit believe that German automakers alone will be able to produce 700,000 fewer cars this year than originally planned.

Parts shortages and higher commodity prices are also putting a financial squeeze on Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers, in some cases forcing them to go to their Tier 1 customers to renegotiate pricing or ask for a cash infusion.