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| General Motors cancels wireless charging due to missing chips |
Due to a global shortage of chips, General Motors has discontinued wireless smartphone charging functionality in some new SUVs.
With the supply of semiconductors in short supply, it has become the last advantage the company has given up.
General Motors has removed HD radios, auto start functions, and fuel management units from some models.
Some 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban, and GMC Yukon models produced after July 12 no longer include wireless chargers.
Some Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, Cadillac XT5 and 2022 Cadillac XT6 cars produced after August 2 were also affected.
Buyers of these vehicles can get a $75 credit line in place of the wireless charging option. General Motors offers a $50 line of credit for vehicles that do not have an HD radio.
The company is expected to produce these vehicles without wireless charging stations for the remainder of the affected model year.
"Our supply chain organization continues to work with our supplier base to mitigate the short-term impact of the semiconductor situation," the company said in a statement.
"General Motors continues to use all available semiconductors to manufacture and ship our most popular products," she added. However, the state of the global semiconductor is still not good.
The lack of chips poses problems for the auto industry. So some companies chose to cut overall production, for example, Ford closed some F-150 assembly lines.
Chip shortage affected General Motors
The resulting shortage of supply led to higher prices. Many automakers such as General Motors are still trying to deliver vehicles to dealers even if they are missing some features.
Nissan, for example, makes some vehicles without navigation systems. And some new Ram trucks no longer come with a smart rear view mirror that improves blind spot monitoring.
French carmaker Renault is charging some cars with a smaller infotainment screen and has removed wireless charging from certain models.
There are a number of things driving the chip shortage. But many automakers made the situation worse for themselves when they initially slashed production targets in 2020 due to the pandemic.
And when sales quickly picked up, they found themselves in a situation where the chips that were being manufactured were going elsewhere.
It may also get worse. While some automakers were initially optimistic that the most severe impact would be felt in the first half of 2021, Volkswagen recently warned that the second half of this year could be even tougher.