Tesla Postpones Production of New-Gen Roadster to 2023 Due to Global Problems in Auto Industry

Image: Tesla

Tesla's new-gen Roadster is a long-awaited car, and unfortunately the start of its production is delayed. Global semiconductor problems, the container crisis, and COVID-19 have had an immediate, negative impact on its production timeline.

The new-gen Roadster is certainly highly desirable. Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently gave an information update on the supercar, which has surely upset some customers. Although production of the Roadster was supposed to start in 2021, it will be delayed to 2023. Musk explained that 2021 was quite dramatic. He expressed the hope that the situation will improve in 2022 because only in this case will the supercar be ready to ship in 2023.

2021 has been the year of super crazy supply chain shortages, so it wouldn’t matter if we had 17 new products, as none would ship.

Assuming 2022 is not mega drama, new Roadster should ship in 2023.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2021

As frustrated as customers are, the reality is that the entire world, and certainly the automotive industry, are faced with a number of major problems. One of the most striking is the shortage of semiconductors. The global auto industry continues to suffer losses because there are not enough components, and this impact could endure for awhile. German consulting company Roland Berger warned that "the semiconductor shortage will be felt for a long time after 2021."

The automotive industry turned out to be a less important customer for semiconductor manufacturers than companies producing information and communications technology and consumer electronics. The huge global demand for such products in the context of the pandemic and the massive shift to remote work and study has grown even more, and therefore chip manufacturers have focused on serving customers who produce computers, smartphones, TVs, game consoles, and all kinds of other gadgets.

Another reason is the container crisis that arose due to COVID-19. This pressured several important markets and, as a result, a significant portion of heavy containers disappeared from the global cargo turnover. The container crisis has lasted for several months and is caused by an imbalance in trade between producers in the Asia-Pacific region and South Asia and consumers in North America and the EU. At the moment, China, whose economy is recovering from the pandemic, is in dire need of containers. But they have accumulated in US ports, where the population, who spent a lot of time at home due to restrictions as a result of the pandemic, is making more and more orders of Chinese goods. The deficit led to an increase in prices for the transportation of goods from Asia; their delivery by containers from China to the United States more than doubled in price, setting an all-time record.

All these factors have a direct impact on Tesla's ability to produce even those models that are already in production, so the start of production of new ones does not make sense until the issues are resolved.

© 2021, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.

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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter

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