U.S carmaker Ford Motors outpaced rival Renault Dacia to produce more vehicles last month.
Ford which has a plant in the southwestern city of Craiova produced 19,300 automobiles in January 2022, Digi24 reported. It was the first time it had manufactured more vehicles than Dacia which is owned by French auto maker Renault.
Dacia manufactured 15,800 vehicles at its Mioveni plant in southern Romania, 20 percent less than the previous January, according to Association for Automobile Constructors.
The 4% drop in production in automobiles in 2021 was caused by the shortage of chips, the most pressing issue facing the global automobile industry.
Some 420,000 automobiles rolled off assembly lines in Romania last year. Last month, they produced 35,200 vehicles, 8.5% fewer than Jan. 2021.
The chip shortage is forecast to cost the global auto industry $210 billion in revenues and lost production of 7.7 million vehicles in 2021, consultant AlixPartners estimated in September.
But the tide is turning, according to the automakers.
Automakers, including General Motors,Ford, and Hyundai Motor predict a near two-year chip constraint will ease in the second half of 2022. Automotive chipmakers, on the other hand, expect a recovery to take longer.
When the pandemic started, chipmakers rerouted their supply to the electronics industry, which also showed a willingness to pay more for the silicon wafers.
When the auto industry recovered, it found the chips needed weren’t available. Suppliers were content to keep their more lucrative contracts with others.
Dacia Renault to shut its car manufacturing plant for a week due to global chip shortage
