The return of vacations is treating the Spanish automotive factories unequally. The national association of manufacturers, Anfac, affirms that in the first half of the year there has been a decrease of 5.8% in national production, to 1.13 million units. However, the results are uneven, while some stand out for their good results in the semester, such as Ford Almussafes, which has increased its figures by 56.3% to 134,019 units assembled, others, such as Seat Martorell, also recorded decreases to double digit. In the case of the Barcelona plant, its fall was 22.6%, until closing the accumulated figure for June with 189,000 units.
The reason for the production decline is that, since the second quarter of 2021 – but especially in the second half of that year and in the first of the current one – it is the shortage of semiconductors. This led to the paralysis of the assembly lines of practically all European plants and, in Spain, to the adoption of flexibility measures such as temporary files (ERTE) or the use of reduced shifts.
Putting a specific date for the return to normality in the supply is practically impossible. In 2021, directors of the Volkswagen Group affirmed that in 2022 it would resume, a forecast that was clearly wrong. Now, the Volkswagen plant in Navarra plans its shifts week by week and, for example, tomorrow it will not produce any vehicles.
Some of the national factories have already canceled their ERTE, such as Seat Martorell or those of Iveco in Madrid and Valladolid, in June and July, respectively. Others, such as Volkswagen, Stellantis or Ford have extended them to be able to face possible stoppages due to lack of components.
Ford, for example, estimates that “on workable days,” production will be 1,400 units. His 10-day file is in effect until October 31.
Some of the factories are running additional shifts to supply the high demand from their customers. This is the case of Seat Martorell, which has already activated three shifts on its Line 2, which is responsible for the León and Formentor. According to the company, the three chains “are operating according to the planned schedule, but the situation will remain volatile.”
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Stellar: Vigo and Zaragoza are completely paralyzed by “an unforeseen chip supply problem”. There are days of flexibility left but some workers will have to go to the ERTE.
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Renault: Without ERTE in the second half and will launch an additional shift in Palencia (2) and in Valladolid (3).
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Volkswagen: Planning is done weekly and this week there will already be a day without manufacturing.
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Seat: It canceled its ERTE in June and has resumed the third shift in the León and Formentor line to recover demand.
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Ford: ERTE active until October 31, with stops until then. After that, 1,400 units will go out daily.
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Mercedes: Back under a new agreement that works on Saturdays to recover production.
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Iveco: End of the ERTE in July, without more shifts to recover production.
Something similar is happening at Mercedes Vitoria, which has returned to activity under the new agreement they signed in July. This was key to qualify for the award of an electric van and contemplates activating a shift on Saturdays to recover the lost production so far this year.
At Stellantis Zaragoza, on the other hand, production is completely paralyzed “due to an unforeseen supply problem” from last Tuesday to Friday, September 2. Something similar is happening at the plant of the Franco-Italian-American group in Vigo, which is also inactive due to the lack of chips. It is expected to resume operations on September 5.
At Renault, they have given up having an ERTE in the second half of the year and, in fact, they are going to add one more shift in Palencia (it will have two) and in Valladolid (it will have three).