Ford will idle its plant in Kentucky for a week as the automotive industry grapples with a shortage of semiconductors, ABC News reported The automaker’s assembly plant in Louisville produces the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair SUVs, and employs about 3,900 hourly workers, according to CNBC. Ford said will take a planned one-week plant shutdown that had been scheduled for later in the year and move it to this week instead.
Ford joins Nissan, which says it will reduce production at one of its plants in Japan, which makes the Note, a car not sold in the US. A Nissan spokesperson said the semiconductor shortage has not affected the company’s US production
Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler, and Toyota also have reported problems with semiconductor supply chains, with Fiat Chrysler temporarily shuttering factories in Canada and Mexico. Volkswagen said in December it had changed some production of its vehicles at plants in North America, Europe and China.
Vehicles are using more semiconductors than they have in the past for features like infotainment, driver assist, and Bluetooth connections, and in recent months, the demand for vehicles has outstripped the supply. Factories that make semiconductors had to shut down during the coronavirus pandemic, which also contributed to a delay in production of personal computers, and affected production of Apple’s iPhone 12.