Chip Shortages Hurt Production; Pandemic Affects Mexican Sales

Preliminary INEGI figures show a year-on-year 22.6 percent reduction in new vehicle sales in January 2021 against the same month in 2020. In this week's featured interviews, the President of the National Association of Bus, Truck, and Tractor Truck Producers (ANPACT) details how the commercial vehicle segment is heading toward recovery. Other interviewees include a successful Tier 2 Mexican supplier of laser and waterjet cutting, as well as Tecnológico de Monterrey, the top private Mexican university. In the international stage, a shortage of chips has forced GM, Nissan, Ford, and Volkswagen to cut down production.

Buckle your seatbelts. This is the Week in Automotive!

Mexican Vehicle Sales Slump 22 Percent

According to early INEGI sales figures, only 81,203 vehicles were sold in Mexico in January, a 22.6 reduction against January 2020. AMDA's president expected better results.

Featured Interviews

ANPACT: Accelerating Heavy-Vehicle Recovery Miguel Elizalde, Executive President of ANPACT, explains how the pandemic influenced the heavy-vehicle market and the sector’s plans for a faster economic recovery.

Laser & Manufacturing: Keys to Becoming a Successful Mexican Tier 2 Supplier. The CEO shares the keys that helped the company to become a successful Tier 2 and Tier 3 supplier of laser and waterjet cutting.

Educating Gen Z on Industry's Needs. The Regional Dean of the School of Engineering and Sciences at Tecnológico de Monterrey details the challenges younger generations bring.

GM to Go Carbon Natural by 2040

GM announced a transformation of its global products and operations toward becoming carbon neutral by 2040. The company's focus will be on "offering zero-emissions vehicles," while building the necessary charging infrastructure to promote their adoption.

Global Chip Shortage Affects Production

Last week we published IHS Markit's tech trends for the year, one of them being precisely a shortage of automotive chips. Reuters this week reported that different automakers have been forced to suspend production. Nissan stopped truck production in Mississippi, US. GM announced that next week, three manufacturing facilities will stop production, including Kansas, Ontario and Mexico. Ford and Volkswagen have announced a shift reduction at different facilities, as well.

Kia’s Shares Jump 14.5 Percent

After a South Korean online news site reported that Apple will invest billions in Kia to produce Apple's electric vehicles, the OEM’s shares rose as much as 14.5 percent, Reuters reports.