VW Spain Forced To Lay Off Employees Early Due To Chip Supply Short

VW was forced to reduce SEAT production due to a shortage of chips. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - Volkswagen's Spanish unit SEAT has added new production restrictions at their main car assembly plant near Barcelona this December. The company said Monday, December 13 that it was forced to close its factories for five days, due to a global supply bottleneck for semiconductor chips.

SEAT has decided to advance by a week its production gap before the Christmas holidays, which was originally planned to start after December 23 but will now be after December 16.

"The global semiconductor supply crisis, affecting all of the auto industry, will force us to shut down the Martorell plant on December 17, 20, 21, 22, and 23," the company said on Monday in a statement quoted by Reuters.

The production restrictions came as demand for the SEAT and CUPRA brands returned to pre-pandemic levels, the statement said. The company will also be closed next week on January 3, 4, and 7, as January 5 and 6 are holidays, he added.

SEAT has put its production on hold several times throughout 2021, including a partial plant shutdown, at the end of August. The Martorell plant assembled about 500,000 cars in 2019, before the start of the pandemic. But it has decreased drastically since the pandemic emerged.

Automakers around the world have also been forced to make sharp production cuts this year as supply chain disruptions and growing demand for consumer electronics have led to a shortage of microchips that took longer than expected.

Chips have become an important component in cars, as they power devices from fuel injection to entertainment systems.