Your new Porsche could be seriously delayed as semiconductor and microchip shortages worsen

Photo: Porsche

Porsche has been on a roll this year, delivering more cars to new customers than it ever has before. With an incredible lineup of desirable cars, it’s easy to see why. All else being equal, Porsche looks on track to shift almost three hundred thousand cars this year. Sadly, all is not equal, and supply chain ripple effects from the Coronavirus pandemic are still rocking the automotive industry. The Volkswagen Group’s top brands, Porsche, Audi, and VW, are all preparing for massive production delays in the third quarter of 2021 as a result of chip shortages. This has been a long-standing issue, but the Volkswagen Group has been able to throw it’s not insignificant weight around to prioritize shipments and production thus far. It looks like that prioritization is coming to an end, as even some of the biggest companies in the world are being told to wait their turn.

“Although there are signs that the supply bottlenecks for semiconductors are beginning to ease, we expect a very challenging third quarter from a supply perspective,” said Alexander Seitz, chief financial officer of VW’s namesake brand.

Volkswagen itself is among the biggest automakers in the world, and it claims that the ongoing shortage of automotive chips which began some 10 months ago, has lost production capacity in the tens of thousands of production units as a result. Considering the company moves millions of cars per year, that may not seem like a lot, but there are certainly priorities arising as a result. Choices have to be made as to which cars get produced when there are shortages, and it behooves a company like Volkswagen to move what supply it has to the most profitable models in its lineup. And to make matters worse, Volkswagen Group says that the situation in the coming months is about to become a whole lot more dire.

VW Group has been pushing its allocation of chips to high-margin Porsche and Audi branded vehicles, meaning Porsche hasn’t had much of a difficulty reaching its ultra-high levels of production and distribution. It seems like that protection is also nearing its end, as the uncertain future of the virus and the continued shortage of chips is reaching loggerheads, forcing Porsche to make some tough decisions.

“In spite of all this success, we are well advised to keep both feet on the ground,” Porsche CFO Lutz Meschke said. “Because regardless of the uncertainties of the coronavirus pandemic, the continuing tense situation on the semiconductor market could become noticeable in the third quarter.”

The supply chain is reaching critical mass. This likely won’t affect anyone who ordered a super premium new Porsche model with a ton of profit built in, like the new Cayenne GT or GT3 Touring. If you’re ordering a base Macan or Cayman T or something, however, your order might get pushed out a few months. Porsche has to cover itself and build new cars for clients who are not only buying higher dollar cars, but are much more likely to buy another in the near future. It’s just business.