As Kentucky Derby fans traveled along I-71 to and from Churchill Downs over the weekend, it would've been hard not to notice while driving through Sparta the thousands of Super Duty pickup trucks parked in rows.
This illustrates the multibillion-dollar impact of the ongoing global semiconductor shortage on the auto industry, specifically Ford Motor Co. Super Duty trucks built by UAW members at the nearby Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville.
"Ford will build and hold the vehicles for a number of weeks, then ship the vehicles to dealers once the modules are available and comprehensive quality checks are complete," Kelli Felker, Ford global manufacturing and labor communications manager, told the Free Press in response to questions about the Kentucky stockpile on Monday.
When America's bestselling F-Series is parked, Wall Street pays attention.
John Lawler, Ford chief financial officer, told industry analysts after first-quarter earnings April 28 that the company had approximately 22,000 vehicles parked and awaiting parts at the end of March.
And the numbers continue to grow.
"The semiconductor shortage and the impact to production will get worse before it gets better," Ford CEO Jim Farley said after earnings posted.
In fact, Intel Corp. CEO Pat Gelsinger predicted the problem will plague the auto industry "for a few more years," Bloomberg reported Monday.
The microchip nightmare crippling auto factories globally is hitting Ford Motor Co.'s operations the hardest globally in terms of actual vehicles taken out of the production schedule, according to AutoForecast Solutions in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania. The company calculates factory-by-factory company announcements, shift production and work schedules in the U.S., Asia and Europe.
So far, that lost vehicle production this year has been projected to be:
Ford, 362,663 fewer vehicles
General Motors, 326,651
Renault Nissan Mitsubishi, 284,948
Volkswagen, 207,521
Stellantis, 202,486
Toyota, 113,555
Honda, 82,482
Automakers impacted to a lesser extent include BMW, Hyundai, Daimler and Tesla. These figures do not include joint ventures between the Detroit Three and their partners in China, Russia, Turkey and elsewhere. The GM numbers include its subsidiary GM Korea.
While vehicle production could be made up toward the end of the year, it is less likely with every month that passes.
Meanwhile, GM is the hardest hit automaker in North America based on current projections for the year:
GM, 277,030 vehicles
Ford, 234,964
Stellantis, 162,087
Subaru, 45,272
Honda, 42,951
Renault Nissan Mitsubishi, 41,928
VW, 36,429
Toyota, 23,670
Tesla, 6,418
Some reduction was seen by Mazda and Hyundai, too.
GM is scheduled to release earnings Wednesday. Stellantis said it will reveal its shipments and revenues the same day.
