Delays in the delivery of vehicles are moderating, but they have not just disappeared, since the shortage of semiconductors has been followed by a new problem, of a logistical nature, and that is the lack of truck drivers who can take the cars, which accumulate in the ports, to the dealers.
Currently, the waits for vehicle deliveries to customers are 160 days on average, although if it is the most widespread cars on the market it can be reduced to 50 days, although it depends on the model, with greater delays for technologically advanced vehicles.
The general director of the National Association of Sellers of Motor Vehicles, Repair and Spare Parts (Ganvam), Fernando Miguélez explained to EFE that this average of 160 days for a vehicle to be delivered represents an improvement of just under a month and a half compared to the 240 days, about eight months, that there were due to tensions in the supply of raw materials and microchips in 2021, after the pandemic.
In the first quarter of 2022, the imbalances between supply and demand in the industry remained, but improvements are now being seen, which Ganvam expects to widen, progressively, in the first quarter of 2023.
Miguélez has indicated that, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), inventories have grown by 5.4% in the third quarter of 2022, compared to the negative rates and reduction of vehicle stocks of previous quarters.
The first two quarters of 2022 were negative, to change already in the third to a trend of growth in vehicle stocks, which Ganvam expects to consolidate.
For the availability times of a vehicle, distribution and logistics are decisive, especially when the automotive industry is a globalized industry.
For example, Spain, which is the second European vehicle manufacturer, keeps less than 20% of the cars it produces, and the rest of those sold in the country come from abroad, mainly from France, Germany, South Korea and the United States, explains Miguélez.
From Ganvam they expect that the improvements that have been made in the delivery of vehicles in 2022 will be maintained in 2023, but warn that there are many problems not yet resolved, as there are still tensions in the supply chain and in logistics and raw material costs.
For its part, the employer of official dealers, Faconauto, figures between 4 and 6 months on average the delay in the delivery of a vehicle, although it depends on the brand, model and series, because each brand has its manufacturing times, explain to EFE sources of this organization, who point out that the problem of lack of raw materials and components is being solved, although slowly.
Up to a year has come to take to deliver a car, recalled recently in a meeting with the press the president of Faconauto, Gerardo Pérez, who pointed out that without ending the crisis of semiconductors, another problem has arisen that affects the delivery times of the cars and is logistical.
CARS ACCUMULATED IN THE PORTS
Perez, who pointed out that at the moment there may be 200,000 undelivered orders, explained that there are not enough truck drivers to be able to move vehicles to dealerships and stressed how large quantities of cars are accumulating in some ports.
About a week ago it was known that, for example, the port of Santander stored some 15,000 cars in its facilities, some parked even in ditches, because logistics companies could not afford to move them.
And, while the factories are operating at a faster pace after the limitations they have had, logistics companies have not adapted to this increase in production, so cars arrive by ship at ports, but can not be taken to their final destination due to a deficit of trucks.
In Spain, vehicle production is also recovering, with an increase of 4.2% until November, when it has exceeded 2 million units in the year, although it remains 23% below the pre-pandemic level, according to data from the manufacturers’ association, Anfac, which expects the year to close with about 2.2 million units produced.
Anfac attributes the increase to fewer bottlenecks in international trade, which have facilitated the supply of materials by factories in the second half of the year, which has allowed production growth in recent months compared to the same period of the previous year, which was more affected by the lack of microchips.
