[Car Story] Many Want to Buy Cars... Hyundai Cars Sold Out Due to Shortage

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] As the shortage of automotive semiconductors prolongs, the inventory levels of global automobile companies have significantly decreased. While many people want to buy cars, the supply shortage is causing inventories to drop sharply.

With inventories shrinking, concerns are rising that the third-quarter earnings of global automakers such as Japan's Toyota and Honda, and South Korea's Hyundai Motor and Kia, could be negatively impacted.

According to SK Securities on the 25th, as of last month, the number of car inventories in the United States was 1,064,000 units, with an inventory duration of 24.4 days. This is less than half compared to 2,575,000 units and 50.8 days in the same period last year.

The decrease in vehicle inventory is due to semiconductor shortages preventing manufacturers from producing cars on time. In particular, the rapid spread of COVID-19 in Southeast Asia, where automotive semiconductor factories are concentrated, led to factory closures in July and August, continuing to affect production.

As a result, Japanese automakers, which have many semiconductor and parts factories in Southeast Asia, suffered the most significant impact.

Looking at the inventory status in the U.S. in August, Subaru had the shortest inventory duration at 7 days, followed by Mazda at 13 days, Toyota at 18 days, Nissan at 19 days, Hyundai Motor at 19 days, GM at 22 days, Honda at 21 days, and Kia at only 27 days. Considering that automakers usually maintain inventories for 2 to 3 months, this situation is very serious.

For Hyundai Motor, popular models such as the Tucson have an inventory duration of only 9 days, and the Palisade only 11 days.

Consequently, concerns over earnings are growing. According to Japanese media, the shortage of automotive semiconductors is expected to reduce the production volume of Japan's six major automakers by more than 1 million units compared to previous forecasts this year.

Hyundai Motor is also estimated to face production disruptions of about 10% in August and about 20% in September compared to initial plans, raising concerns about negative impacts on earnings.

Consulting firm AlixPartners predicted that due to semiconductor issues this year, the global automobile industry's new car production will decrease by 7.7 million units. Accordingly, the global automotive industry's revenue loss is expected to reach 248 trillion won.

AlixPartners stated, "We expected the semiconductor shortage to ease by now, but problems continue in Malaysia and other places due to COVID-19," adding, "So far, production has been maintained because there was some semiconductor inventory, but once all inventory is depleted, the impact on sales will become more severe."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.