An automotive chip shortage, chips being a huge component in the production of new cars, has led to production cuts around the globe. From electric cars to combustion engines, every sector in the industry has been impacted. One of the automotive giants that has been impacted by this the most? Jaguar Land Rover.
As Britain’s biggest car maker, it was inevitable that they would be impacted so heavily by this chip shortage. Jaguar Land Rover lost £9m ($12m) in the last quarter of 2021 amid the global computer chip shortage and it is expected to continue for the rest of 2022. Over the course of this global shortage, the infamous car maker has accumulated losses totalling over £421m for the first three quarters of the financial year. Whilst this is the third year in a row where the firm has seen losses, there are hopes that the chip shortage will “gradually improve”.
Throughout the last quarter of 2020, Jaguar Land Rover announced a pre-tax profit of £439m, which is still an impressive figure but does also highlight a reduction in losses sustained over a challenging year for the British brand. Throughout 2021, vehicle production volumes increased 41%, despite the shortage, yet in comparison to previous years, there remains a shortfall between the brand’s order book of around 155,000 vehicles. As a result of the chip shortage, despite the long-awaited arrival of the new Range Rover, retail sales continued to decline to just over 80,000 cars in Q3.
Jaguar Land Rover boss, Theirry Bollore, has announced that “Whilst semiconductor supplies have continued to constrain sales this quarter, we continue to see very strong demand for our products underlining the desirability of our vehicles.” Despite the drop in car sales of 37.6% compared to a year earlier, it still sold 80,126 vehicles in the quarter to the end of December. As result, Jaguar Land Rover saw revenue of £4.7bn, up 22% from the previous quarter.
Semiconductor chips are vital to modern cars and the production process. These are especially important for cars with features like touchscreen controls, automatic emergency brakes, reversing cameras and fuel efficiency equipment. This shortage has had such a heavy impact on the industry that car production has fallen to its lowest level for over 65 years, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Jaguar Land Rober’s chief financial officer Adrian Mardell.
A report released by The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders suggested that just under 860,000 new cars left UK factories in 2021 and car giants such as Ford, Nissan, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover have been forced to scale back production in recent months due to the semiconductor issue. This scale back combined with the shortage has seen total car production fall a total of 34% below pre-pandemic levels.
The SMMT said the figures were dismal, largely thanks to a global microchip shortage and disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Car makers around the world have also been impacted by the chip shortage, along with supply chain disruptions, Covid-19 restrictions and rising prices of raw materials.
View our Land Rover lease deals
www.cars2buy.co.uk
How does the chip shortage impact electric cars?
Even with the global chip shortage, the sales of electric and hybrid vehicles soared in 2021. In fact, sales were so impressive, that more electric cars were registered in 2021 than in the previous five years combined. Despite these impressive figures, industry leaders say that there is much more investment needed in charging infrastructure to see a real difference.
The shortage of semiconductors is a result of pandemic-related pressures on automotive supply chains and other factors from the changes to importing/exporting laws. The chip shortage, naturally, has begun to delay the production of some popular electric vehicles. A modern car can use between 1,500 and 3,000 semiconductors and is used in areas such as engine management and emissions control, emergency braking, airbags, entertainment systems and even navigation.
Lease your next Jaguar Land Rover with cars2buy
We offer a wide selection of Jaguar Land Rover lease deals at fantastic prices. Thanks to our extensive network of trusted dealers spreading across the UK, we are able to give you the best prices all in one place. Simply filter through our list of personal lease deals and find the Range Rover lease for you. With a personal lease, you can forget about any worries of depreciation or the hassle of selling the car when you no longer want it. Just decide how long you want the lease to run (most personal leases are taken on contracts of between 2 & 4 years), what your annual mileage will be and how much deposit you want to put down.