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Subaru parks plans to make 58,000 cars due to brakes on silicon supply chain

(2021/04/06)


Japanese auto-maker Subaru announced Monday that it is making “production adjustments” - aka making fewer cars - due to semiconductor supply chain issues.

The decision impacts the Yajima plant in Gunma Prefecture, which makes the Legacy sedan and Forester SUV. The factory was scheduled for a holiday break to commemorate Japan’s Golden Week on April 28. It will now stop production 13 working days early on 10 April. Production lines will resume on May 10, turning a two-week scheduled break into a month-long pause. Production at other plants is not affected. Subaru has previously continued to pay workers during unscheduled breaks in production, so staff may not have a horrible time of it during their extended breaks.

[1]

The Japanese automaker already cut its production plan for this fiscal year by around 48,000 vehicles due to the chip crisis. The newly scheduled break in production will subtract another 10,000 vehicles from showrooms.

Sniff the love: Subaru's SUVs overwhelmed by scent of hair shampoo, recalls 2.2 million cars [2]READ MORE

[3]

“The impact on the Company’s consolidated financial performance is yet to be determined. We will make a further announcement if deemed necessary,” said Subaru in a [4]canned statement [PDF].

Subaru joins a number of [5]other car manufacturers that have cut production due to the global semiconductor drought.

[6]

Although Subaru hasn't named the exact components that are causing it trouble, the auto-maker's [7]EyeSight semi-autonomous driving tech a big part of its sales pitch and appears in all but five of the company’s 42 models. The system uses cameras and other sensors to automatically slow vehicles if they appear destined for a rear-end accident, or leave a lane. ®

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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YGwxTH9i3rojIhxEoF-LAwAAABY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[2] https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/02/subaru_suvs_overwhelmed_by_aromas/

[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YGwxTH9i3rojIhxEoF-LAwAAABY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[4] https://www.subaru.co.jp/press/file/uploads/news-en/en2021_0405_2_rLPc_-gWZ7.pdf

[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/10/honda_nissan_report_semiconductor_shortages/

[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YGwxTH9i3rojIhxEoF-LAwAAABY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[7] https://www.subaru.com/engineering/eyesight.html

[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/

Potemkine!

Two thoughts:

- Closing factories because they aren't profitable enough and letting just enough of them to feed the whole supply chain is a logical consequence of the shareholders greed. Creating SPOF isn't such a great idea. Will the lesson be learned? I doubt that.

- Feeding all cars with a lot of electronic things, which make cars heavier and less reliable, isn't always a good idea. It's maybe time for Subaru to look at a lower segment, and make a more basic and less expensive car.

a more basic and less expensive car.

Neil Barnes

But, but, but... how will we make a profit on that, if it doesn't have all the pointless toys? How will the punters tell our car from any other maker's?

Surely everybody knows that the way to make profit is to build something cheap and sell it for a fortune?

Chris G

Hmmm! Radical thinking, a lighter weight, reliable and repairable car that allows a driver to drive it!

Do you think people would go for such a thing?

MiguelC

Re: "Production at other plants is not affected. Subaru has previously continued to pay workers during unscheduled breaks in production, so staff may not have a horrible time of it during their extended breaks."

That's the way you treat your workforce in civilised countries . If not just because of good ethics, because of strong labour protection.

[End of diatribe. We now return you to your regularly scheduled
programming...]
-- Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution