Despite Q3 Auto Semiconductor Recovery... 'Popular Car Deliveries' Still Over Six Months Delay

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Although automakers expect the supply of automotive semiconductors to gradually recover starting from the third quarter of this year, it is still reported that popular models require more than six months from contract to delivery even in August.

According to the industry on the 7th, contrary to the positive outlook on semiconductor supply in the third quarter by automakers, the delivery situation of popular models has hardly improved this month. Earlier, Hyundai Motor and Kia stated in their Q2 earnings conference call last month that "semiconductor supply will gradually improve in the third quarter."

In Hyundai Motor's case, the compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) Tucson has the most severe delivery backlog among internal combustion engine vehicles. For the Tucson gasoline, diesel, and hybrid Inspiration trims, even if contracted now, it takes about 6 to 8 months for customer delivery. The Santa Fe hybrid takes about 4 to 5 months, and the Genesis GV70 2.5 gasoline model is known to take about 5 months.

Kia's mid-large sedan K8, which was launched in March and surpassed the Grandeur's sales last month, also has a waiting period of over 6 months for both gasoline and hybrid models. The delivery waiting period for Kia Sorento hybrid and gasoline models exceeds 6 months. Diesel models require a wait of about 4 to 5 months. For the all-new Sportage launched last month, gasoline and hybrid models take about 4 months, and the hybrid model takes about 5 months.

Dedicated electric vehicles such as Hyundai Motor's Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 have even longer waits. The Ioniq 5, launched at the end of April last year, still has some pre-order customers who have not received their vehicles. Although there is a forecast that EV6 pre-order customers may receive their vehicles within this year, general customers are likely to receive their vehicles next year.

Because of this, Hyundai Motor offers a discount of 1 million KRW if customers who have waited more than 3 months after contracting the Ioniq 5 switch their model to the hydrogen vehicle Nexo, and a 300,000 KRW discount if they change to Avante, Sonata, The New Grandeur, The New Kona, or The All-New Tucson Hybrid. In addition, these companies frequently check their semiconductor inventory and adjust production by allocating some compatible semiconductors to other model productions.

An industry official said, "Automakers and parts suppliers are busy securing quantities early by pre-contracting semiconductors for vehicles to be produced next year," adding, "However, with vehicle demand exceeding supply and the global spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant, it is difficult to be optimistic about the third quarter."

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