Volkswagen says it will delay the launch of its ID.5 model by one month, until the first week of May, due to disruptions in the supply of wiring harnesses from Ukraine.
A company spokesperson for the German auto giant confirmed the news on Friday.
In effect, the supply problem has prevented the automaker from producing enough display and demonstration vehicles for all of its business partners, according to a letter to dealers seen by the Automobilwoche publication, first to report the news.
In the letter, VW explains that “In order to ensure that all partners are treated equally, the vehicles that are already in the destination stations are not yet being delivered.” It adds that "In order to ensure the nationwide availability of the vehicles for every agent, we will partially redistribute the exhibition vehicles."
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Russia's invasion of Ukraine has created a new supply-chain crisis that is affecting availability of some critical automotive parts such as wiring harnesses, catalytic converters and gases from the region used for semiconductor development.
The ID.5 is produced at Volkswagen’s plant in Zwickau, Germany. Production was temporarily halted there due to the bottleneck of unfinished vehicles resulting from supply chain problems related to the war in Ukraine. Production is expected to resume there next week.
Barring a quick resolution to the conflict, we could start seeing more announcements of this kind in the coming weeks.
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