PRAGUE (Reuters) – Skoda Auto, part of Volkswagen and the Czech Republic’s largest exporter, will significantly reduce or possibly cease production from the week of October 18 until the end of the year as the global chip scarcity is hampering the automotive sector .

Automobile manufacturers around the world are grappling with a shortage of semiconductor chips amid a surge in demand after the pandemic, and the disruption is hampering the Czech economy and others in Central Europe that depend on the auto industry.

“Not even Skoda Auto is able to avoid this global crisis,” said Skoda Auto spokesman Tomas Kotera in an email.

He said the main reason the production slump was the large number of unfinished vehicles waiting for chips.

“We are therefore initially concentrating on the refinement of these vehicles so that we can get them to the customer as quickly as possible,” said Kotera.

Skoda, a leader in the Czech economy and a major employer, said it continues to strive to preserve jobs and wages for its workers.

It forecast a gradual calming of the situation for chips in the second half of 2022.

(Reporting by Robert Muller, writing by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet; editing by Mark Potter)

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