The company had “planned for a long time” to stop production of the Golf and Tiguan, a spokesman told the agency. He justified this by the need to solve the stock situation in the period that came out for the autumn holidays. According to him, Bild’s sources claim that the measures are related to the dispute regarding the Dutch chip manufacturer Nexperia.
Nexperia is a subsidiary of the Chinese company Wingtech. In late September, the Dutch government took control of it due to intellectual property concerns. The Chinese government responded by banning the export of the company’s finished products.
The chips from Nexperia are not sophisticated, but they are widely used in cars, which raises concerns about the possible disruption of car production, writes Reuters. The Association of the German Automotive Industry VDA issued a warning today about the impact of the Sino-Dutch dispute over the chipmaker on the car industry.
“If it is not possible to solve the interruption of the supply of Nexperia chips in a short time, this situation could lead to a significant reduction in production in the near future, or even to its stop,” said VDA President Hildegard Müller.
