Queue for new car reaches six months, says Anfavea

The shortage of components, especially semiconductors, is no longer as problematic as it was at the beginning of the year, but it continues to cause a mismatch between production and demand in the Brazilian automobile industry.

Even in a market affected by high prices, high interest rates and restrictions by banks in granting financing, there are waiting lines of six months or more for some models or versions of cars.

The shortage involves different types of cars and light commercial vehicles, but, according to shopkeepers, it mainly affects the entry-level versions, which are the cheapest of each model. As there are no chips for everyone, several automakers prefer to prioritize the production of more sophisticated models, which give greater return on sales.

“There is pent-up demand”, says the president of the National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea), Márcio de Lima Leite. According to him, for some models with higher sales volume, there is a six-month queue. “But there are cases of waiting up to nine months”, he says.

Extra hour

With the availability of some components, Volkswagen has called on part of the employees to work overtime on Saturdays or Sundays since mid-September to complete cars that are waiting for parts in the yard of the Anchieta factory, in São Bernardo do Campo, in the ABC region of São Paulo.

One of the models manufactured at this plant, the Polo, had its 2023 version put on sale on the 6th and sold 7,000 units in two hours. In the whole year, until September, the model’s sales totaled 2.4 thousand units.

Delivery of the renewed models will be staggered over the next 30 to 60 days, says Volkswagen. The new Polo costs from R$ 83 thousand to R$ 110 thousand. Other vehicles of the brand have a wait of up to two months, depending on the version.

At Stellantis, there is a six-month waiting list for the most sought-after versions of the Fiat Strada pickup, which is the sales leader in the Brazilian market.

The same delivery period applies to versions of the Fiat Pulse sports utility vehicle (SUV) and the Jeep Commander, whose 2023 line was launched in September. Prices for the three models start at R$96,300, R$95,600 and R$237,000, respectively.

Last month, only two factories suspended production for lack of parts. Leite says, however, that this shortage is still the biggest constraint for the production of vehicles. According to him, a current car uses 1,500 to 2,000 semiconductors, a volume that has increased with the offer of more connectivity and new technologies in vehicles.

The information is from the newspaper. The State of São Paulo.