In 2020, the assortment of automotive parts in the agencies lasted an average of 15 days, but by this time of the year, the supply extended to just over 55 days. Therefore, motorists have their units stopped for up to two months, depending on the brand. As the industry struggles with parts and chip shortages , this situation is expected to normalize by 2024 .
The shortage of auto parts and chips has increased worldwide since 2020 due to various factors such as the pandemic, natural disasters and wars. According to Interesse, this has caused automotive agencies to take up to four months to repair damage or car crashes, which has affected car users having to leave their units parked, in addition to the .
It is estimated that a car requires an average of 3,000 microchips to control a car’s safety, navigation and entertainment. The manufacture of these microchips has been reduced and monopolized by manufacturers of computers, smartphones, video games, tablets and household appliances, all of which are in great demand by the home office.
“The decline in microchips and their hoarding by other markets could cause the auto industry to suffer another year or two. The previous situation has represented a significant impact on the times of supply of parts and repair of units for our Policyholders”, commented Armando Bretón, partner of Auto and Damage claims at Grupo Interesse.
According to the firm, 65% of the spare parts that arrive in Mexico do so by sea, and given the insufficiency of shipping fleets, manufacturers have opted for air as an alternative , however, this solution is not the best, since that transportation costs increase and not all parts can be transported this way, for example, airbags or accumulators cannot be transported by air, due to security restrictions.
A slow recovery towards 2024
“According to figures detected by the group, the automotive industry lost 210,000 million dollars during 2021 due to the shortage of semiconductors, which forced to stop partial activities in different manufacturing plants and decrease car sales.
For example, the North America region stopped producing 2,472,038 units; followed by Europe with 2,385,260 units and China with 1,824,374 units”, concluded Juan Carlos Alonso, Managing Partner of the car business line at Interesse.
In Mexico, however, car production showed a recovery in August, with an annual increase of 31.36%. Total production was 347,906 light vehicles, the highest monthly volume since October 2020.
Thus, automotive production in Mexico accumulates 2,238,153 cars so far this year, which implies a variation of 7.85% at the annual rate.
In this way, it is estimated that the recovery will be slow, but by 2024 it will have a 55% increase to reach pre-pandemic levels and thus recover what was lost during the last 2 years in Mexico and the world.
