A emblem is seen on a wheel of a Skoda Octavia automotive after a presentation of the corporate’s annual leads to Mlada Boleslav March 20, 2013. REUTERS/David W Cerny
PRAGUE, March 22 (Reuters) – Skoda Auto, a part of the Volkswagen Group (VOWG_p.DE), stated on Tuesday its provide associate in Ukraine had determined to restart manufacturing of wire harnesses which ought to permit the Czech carmaker to renew manufacturing of its electrical ENYAQ iV mannequin.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has added to produce chain issues for international automakers — which have been already battling semiconductor shortages which have minimize manufacturing — with a break in deliveries of wire harnesses from the war-torn nation.
Whereas Skoda, the Czech Republic’s greatest exporter, stated it expects the provision of semiconductors to enhance within the second half of 2022, it stated the struggle in Ukraine and provide bottlenecks will put a big burden on its working enterprise.
Skoda’s 2021 deliveries fell 12.6% year-on-year and earlier this month it stopped manufacturing of the ENYAQ due to harness shortages, saying that two different fashions have been in danger due to the dearth of availability of the part. learn extra
“Our associate…in Ukraine determined to restart manufacturing of wire harnesses this week, with full service and full safety for employees there,” Karsten Schnake, Skoda’s board member for buying, stated throughout its on-line 2021 earnings presentation.
Wire harnesses type a key a part of a automotive’s electrical system, which group and information cables contained in the automobile.
“We determined to double the manufacturing in case one thing goes unsuitable, and this manufacturing will likely be ramped up in an alternate manufacturing unit,” Schnake stated, including that work there would begin in three or 4 weeks.
“Hopefully we will restart manufacturing of ENYAQ one or two weeks later when we’ve got wire harnesses,” Schnake stated.
Skoda delivered 878,200 automobiles worldwide in 2021, the primary time that this had fallen under the 1 million mark since 2013.
However, the VW group model’s gross sales income rose 3.9% to 17.7 billion euros ($19.5 billion) in 2021 and working revenue rose 43.2% to 1.1 billion euros because it took value measures.
Skoda didn’t give a monetary or manufacturing outlook, saying there have been nonetheless appreciable uncertainties on account of the battle in Ukraine and the influence on its Russian operations.
Skoda, like VW, has suspended manufacturing and different enterprise actions in Russia, which was its second-largest market final yr, with 90,400 autos delivered.
($1 = 0.9089 euros)
Reporting by Jason Hovet, Modifying by Louise Heavens, Kirsten Donovan and Alexander Smith
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