Chip shortage to cut Renault production by 200,000 cars this year
Renault this morning warned that it would lose production of 200,000 cars this year as a result of the global semiconductor shortage.
The figure is double the shortfall that the French car giant had previously forecast.
However, despite the fall in production the firm said that it was on track to turn a profit for the full year.
The forecast comes after a first half which saw Renault swing back into profit after tumbling to a whopping €7.4bn loss in the same period in 2020.
For the first half of 2021, it said that it had posted a profit of €368m after a rise in sales.
In total, Renault sold 1.42m vehicles worldwide in the first half, 19 percent more than last year but still down almost a quarter from the same period in 2019.
Chief executive Luca de Meo today said that he though the “worst was behind us”.
“The auto business operating margin is back in the black so we are making money on our core business again”, he told analysts.
The results come shortly after Renault unveiled an ambitious new strategy to switch its focus to electric vehicles over the next decade.
By 2030 the marque will, along with alliance partners Nissan and Mitsubishi, produce 1m electric vehicles globally each year.