Luca de Meo, CEO of French carmaker Renault, said semiconductor shortages and other rising costs will increase car prices.
“Prices will rise even more in the next 12 months,” he told a Spanish newspaper in an interview. And car prices are already on the rise as carmakers focus on more expensive models because of the semiconductor shortage.
The rising cost of steel, gas, energy, copper and aluminum are also part of rising car prices, he said.
“Building competitive chip manufacturing capacity in Europe would take more than 10 years,” de Meo said.
In recent months, automakers around the world have been forced to slow production because of problems in semiconductor supply. As consumer demand picks up, automakers have to compete with other big chip-consuming industries, such as personal computers, smartphones and connected devices, which capture a large share of semiconductor supply.
Against this backdrop, the Renault group has had to extend by the end of the year the periods during which operations at its three plants in Spain will be partially suspended due to global semiconductor supply problems.
A spokesman for Renault Spain said Renault plans to halt production at its Palencia plant, where the Kadjar and Megane models are assembled, for up to 61 days, and at its Valladolid plant, where the Capture crossover is produced, for up to 40 days. Work at the Valladolid engine plant could also be suspended for up to 17 days.
Edited for English