GM predicts the semiconductor supply issues it has faced over the past year or so will begin to diminish in the second half of the year.
In its recent 2021 fourth-quarter earnings report, GM said it expects access to semiconductor chips to improve throughout the 2022 fiscal year. GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said the company observed a small improvement in the chip supply between the start of Q3 and the end of Q4 and expects this trend to ramp up in the coming months.
“We saw improved semiconductor availability in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter, which enabled us to increase our wholesale sequentially while substantially reducing our inventory of vehicles built without certain components, and we expect ongoing semiconductor availability improvements throughout 2022,” Jacobson said.
GM CEO Mary Barra offered more good news, saying that “with the plans we have in place now, by the time we get to third and fourth quarter, we’re going to be really starting to see the semiconductor constraints diminish.”
Jacobson also said that since the automaker funnelled many of its chips to plants building its hugely popular and very profitable full-size truck and SUV models, this production increase will mostly happen at facilities building its smaller passenger cars and crossovers.
“Remember that in 2021 we largely protected our high-demand truck production,” he explained. “As a result, the incremental volume in 2022 will be mostly weighted toward small and midsize SUVs and sedans.”
While GM will ramp up its production output as its access to semiconductor chips improves, it will likely take a while for consumers to notice an improvement in inventory levels at dealerships due to pent-up demand. This means new vehicle prices will likely remain somewhat elevated through the year before demand evens out and returns to a more usual level in early 2023.
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Comments
It so funny how we keep getting “LIP SERVICE” from the top and then they come up with some other shortage. I’m guessing no tires next, or we need Batteries next.
They were going have all HD trucks, missing chips, shipped by the end of January too.
Just received my 22 GMC HD after 8 months of wait. Only thing missing is the heated / cooling seats and the heated steering wheel. $50 inconvenience credit on each idem. and will let me know when the chips are available.
I can live with that…
Im starting to wonder if the 2022 Silverado configurator needs a microchip too. . . . . . .
A crazy lying lady leading GM , which will be bankrupt in a few years , going to catch Tesla in 3 years. Lol. She’s over 3 years behind now
GM sold a grand total of 26 electric vehicles in 2021 , Tesla sold almost 1 MILLION. LOL
TESLA HAS ONE FACTORY THAT WOULD HOLD ALL OF GM AND FORDS FACTORIES COMBINED
I give very much credit to Tesla as their technology is superior, but having more brick and mortor can be solved very quickly. just not sure that Tesla will obliterate the competition in the long run. It will however be intersting. Personally I don’t like the Tesla styling vs. the Big 3+ choices. Reminds me of the old Ford saying you can have whatever color you choose as long as it is black.
Yeah, that great full self driving technology, which has been a year away for the last 5 years. Tesla full self driving will always be a year away for the rest of the decade.
Now if they can only fix the delivery/shipping problem from the factory.
If the shelf is empty -the old saying is “you cant sell it if its sitting in the back room” .
It will cause customers to shop elsewhere….
Did they predict the Bolt was going to be a total failure?
Maybe we’ll see the “fair market adjustment” disappear from windshields on all new GM vehicles! Yeah right! Funny GM had an announcement on this last week but drive around dealer lots and I’m still seeing the $2,000 to $10,000 mark ups. So sad.