Ford Motor said on Monday that a global semiconductor shortage and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict have affected auto production and orders in Europe. Ford said it would idle its German plants in Saarlouis and Cologne due to a global chip shortage, Reuters reported. That also led it to stop taking new orders for the S-Max and Galaxy models built in Valencia, Spain. Ford said orders for both models will be delivered after September and existing orders will be fulfilled.
The situation in Russia and Ukraine also led to a parts shortage at a Volkswagen plant in Poland, which temporarily halted production, Ford said. The factory produces Ford’s Tourneo Connect vehicles. “We will continue to monitor the situation with VW and will comment more on this at a later date,” Ford said in a statement.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict also caused supply problems, Ford said, forcing Ford to offer customers Focus vehicles with a smaller 8-inch dashboard screen instead of the 13.2-inch SYNC4 screen in the updated vehicle presentation. The supply of large screens is moving to a new location in Europe, but only smaller screens are available until then.