MADRID -- Volkswagen Group's Spanish brand Seat has partly halted car assembly at its Martorell plant near Barcelona due to the global semiconductor supply bottleneck, the company said.
The plant has idled its assembly line number 2 for two days because it lacks chips, the brand said in a statement.
Seat, which usually closes down the plant in August for summer holidays, had made an exception and opened the factory this month to offset a production shortfall in the first half of the year.
But the scarcity of chips eventually forced a partial closure for two days, it said.
Overall, the brand produced 8,000 cars in August, partly offsetting a shortfall in the first half.
Automakers around the world have been forced to reduce the pace of production in recent months due to a scarcity of chips.
After idling plants last year as the pandemic took hold, automakers are now competing with the consumer electronics industry for chip deliveries amid global supply disruptions.
VW had said it expects the situation to improve by the end of the year and aims to make up for production shortfalls in the second half as far as possible, though the chips crunch is not abating.
Earlier this month, Infineon, the top automotive supplier, said it had suspended production at one of its plants in Malaysia in June.
