The shortage of electronic components prevented Stellantis from producing 600,000 vehicles in the third quarter, the group has just announced with the publication of its financial results.
After a very good start to the year, Stellantis slows down in the third quarter, against the backdrop of the microchip shortage
The group announced this morning a net turnover down 14% compared to last year, to 32.5 billion euros. One figure to remember in particular: the shortage of semiconductors has cut the group's production by 30% over the last three months, which corresponds to 600,000 cars worldwide that could not be produced. a figure in addition to the 700,000 cars that the group was unable to produce in the first half of the year.
Last week, Renault for its part estimated the production deficit at 300,000 units, but over the whole of 2021 and while some sources suggest a figure of 500,000 vehicles. On the Stellantis side, a total of 1.4 million cars would not come off production lines this year due to the lack of components.
Margin objective maintained at 10%
On the sales side, Stellantis delivered 1.1 million vehicles between July and September, a decrease of 27% over one year compared to the combined sales of the PSA (Peugeot-Citroën) and FCA (Fiat-Chrysler) groups which have merged at the start of the year.
Faced with these headwinds, Stellantis is however maintaining its operating margin objective of around 10% for the whole of 2021, in particular thanks to sales prices which are maintained. Faced with the difficulties in obtaining components, Stellantis favors the most upscale vehicles. In the first half of the year, Stellantis posted a record operating margin of 11.4%, almost double its initial forecast for 2021.
While the shortage is expected to continue next year, the group is reassuring, citing an improvement in its semiconductor supplies in October.
"The level of shortage is slightly worse than what we expected in August, told the group's chief financial officer Richard Palmer to AFP. But we are on a better trajectory and see that supplies are stabilizing."
A global strategy yet to be revealed
Almost a year after the merger between PSA and FCA, Stellantis has still not presented its global strategy. A somewhat paradoxical situation for what stands out as the world's fourth largest automotive group, after Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors.
However, many important decisions are currently taken, as noted recently by La Tribune, and remain little, if not not explained. This month alone, we can cite the announcement of a partnership with LG in batteries in the United States, which leads the group to have five "gigafactories" in project, the name given to these production sites of large-scale batteries.
Announcements were also made to transform French factories and produce more components for electric cars. The general manager of the group, Carlos Tavares, also spoke little about the management of the shortage of chips which nevertheless led Stellantis to, for example, postpone the launch of the next Maserati SUV or to close until the beginning of the year. next German factory in Eisenach.
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