Semiconductor shortage puts brakes on automotive recovery

Anyone in the market for a new Peugeot 308 will be intrigued to find its dashboard fitted with an analogue speedometer instead of a digital display.

This has nothing to do with adding a little retro chic to the 308. Instead, it reflects the decisions car manufacturers are making in the wake of a global semiconductor shortage that has seen Peugeot prioritise chips for the digital speedometers of models such as the Peugeot 3008 SUV.

With the sort of elan you would expect from the automotive industry, a spokesperson for Stellantis – formed after the merger of Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler – told Reuters that the analogue speedo was ‘a nifty and agile way of getting around a real hurdle for car production, until the ‘chips’ crisis ends’.

The shortage of semiconductors has been brought about through a combination of factors, not least the global pandemic which ground production to a halt in 90 per cent of vehicle and component factories in China, North America and Europe.