VW Slovakia Will Probably Limit Production as of End of Next Week

Bratislava, April 22 (TASR) - The crisis in the automotive industry caused by the global shortage of semiconductor components is likely to affect Volkswagen (VW) Slovakia, and the largest car manufacturer in Slovakia, which employs about 11,500 people, is likely to reduce production as of the end of next week, head of VW Slovakia's board Oliver Gruenberg told a press conference dedicated to the company's financial results on Thursday. The head of VW Slovakia didn't specify the length or extent of the temporary shutdown. "I don't want to be more specific because we're still struggling to prevent it lasting a long time or being so bad, to cut it short. We were always able to do that in the past," said Gruenberg, pointing out that all German plants have had to shut down production temporarily due to a lack of chips, but the Bratislava plant has avoided this so far. For example, Trnava-based carmaker Stellantis has also had problems with the lack of these parts. Due to the global shortage of chips, production programmes are being modified by car manufacturers around the world. Some semiconductor manufacturers claim that the cause is the unexpectedly rapid recovery of the automotive industry from the coronavirus crisis. During the crisis, manufacturers had to reorganise their capacities and find new customers. This led to increased orders from manufacturers of entertainment equipment, such as TV sets, hi-fi and game consoles, as well as in the biotechnology and computer industries. am/df