In the former automobile market, manufacturers made money by building cars, and consumers bought cars to facilitate their lives, which is naturally a win-win situation. However, under the influence of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, this situation of supply and demand matching has been completely broken, the lack of cores has led to factory shutdowns, consumers have no cars to pick up, etc. In order to change this embarrassing dilemma, Toyota has recently taken new measures.
Recently, overseas media reported that Toyota Motor plans to use scratches or defective parts to manufacture cars without affecting the performance and safety of the vehicle, hoping to alleviate the current car-making dilemma. As soon as this news came out, it can be said that it has attracted the attention of many people.
Officials then responded to the news, saying that Toyota's definition of defective parts is not a product with functional defects, but only parts or chips with slight wear on the surface, and in the past, such parts would be scrapped or rebuilt.
So in response to this move, Takefumi Shiga, chief head of Toyota's research and development project, also said: "It takes a lot of courage. ”
In fact, for Toyota, this is more like a helpless move. Some data pointed out that due to the impact of the epidemic, Toyota's supply chain has suffered from the dilemma of suspension of production, so that Toyota has reduced its global automobile production in September from the original plan of 900,000 to 540,000 units.
Moreover, 27 production lines in 14 factories in Japan alone have been shut down, which can be imagined how serious the problem caused by the lack of cores is. The use of defective parts to build a car is a decision made after judging the situation.
In fact, in the professor's view, Toyota uses defective parts to build cars, as long as it is ensured that these chips or parts are really as it says, only have surface scratches rather than functional defects, and will not affect the user's car experience, then this is beyond reproach.
After all, Toyota's reputation for many years is reliable, and I believe that it will not make the move of "moving stones and dropping their feet". Of course, the products produced must also inform consumers of the truth, and the choice needs to be retained in the hands of the purchaser.
I believe that readers who understand the automotive industry in recent years know that from the end of 2020, the lack of core problem has spread to all mainstream car companies in Europe, America, Japan and South Korea, and the news of suspension of work and production has been continuously reported. But in fact, for the lack of cores, what kind of chip is missing, it is estimated that many people do not understand.
In fact, the chips used in automobiles are mainly divided into several categories, including MCUs, IGBTs, sensors, etc., which are jointly responsible for the electrification of the car.
At present, the mainstream manufacturers include Bosch of Germany, NXP of the Netherlands, Texas Instruments, Infineon, etc., because their factories are mainly built in Europe, America, Southeast Asia and other epidemic-stricken areas, so that the problem of chip shortage has been formed.
In addition to Toyota, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Hyundai and other mainstream car companies have been stopping work and production because of the shortage of chips, the most serious of which is the direct shutdown for several months, which has completely led to the reversal of the market supply and demand pattern, and the situation that users need to increase the price to pick up the car has appeared in the United States and Europe.
And there are some manufacturers are not bothered by this, including BMW, Audi and other luxury brands, their solution is very simple and rude, "missing core? Then this part of the function will be left vacant first, and the car will be handed over, with money or later installation as compensation."
For example, in October this year, BMW delivered the 3 series, 5 series and other models in the US market because of the shortage of touch chips, directly removed the touch function of the central control screen, and the owner can get part of the money as compensation, in fact, this is also a solution of the best of both worlds.
Of course, there are also some thick car companies that choose to take a different path, such as a domestic car company, which has previously been rumored to have increased the price in the market by hundreds of times to buy a shortage of chips to install cars, just to deliver the car on time, and the cost does not need to be borne by the user, which is undoubtedly commendable.
There is no doubt that the new crown pneumonia epidemic is difficult to end in the short term, which means that the shortage of automotive chips is likely to continue until 2022, and some experts pointed out that this situation can be completely alleviated by the middle of 2023. In this way, the increase in the cost of car purchase for ordinary consumers is naturally inevitable, and all we can do is to pray that the epidemic will pass as soon as possible.
Netizen Comments:
Netizen 1: If there is no difference in its practical use, no one knows if you don't say it!
Netizen 2: It's better to say it directly than to cajole and deceive.
Netizen 3: I hope that the epidemic will pass as soon as possible, and this wallet will not be able to withstand it.