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Computer Chip Shortage Impacting New Car Sales

No chips, no cars to offer.

Some American car makers are shutting down their production lines due to a shortage of computer chips that are needed to operate all the digital wizardry that you find in new cars.

Here’s one example from a foreign car dealer where I live. They typically have over 200 new cars on their lot and available for sale. Today they have more like 25 cars that they can immediately offer to customers.

Thus they are keeping a variety of car models to be used for demo drives and they are taking orders. The cars sitting on the showroom floor where I’m sitting are already sold to owners and waiting for them to come pick them up.

The supply chain is still having impacts from the pandemic.
Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.