Myeong-seok Chae, Gounee Yang Global Economic News DUE to the global chip shortage and production disruptions caused by COVID-19, Hyundai Motor’s and Kia’s releases of new cars have been extended by months, and even the waiting periods for some of their existing models have to be prolonged. According to Kia’s latest delivery plans, Kia models with the longest waiting period are Sorento HEV and Sportage HEV. Customers who purchased these models may have to wait for more than 16 months to receive their cars. The waiting period for the Sorento HEV, which was 14 months, has been extended by two months, and Sportage HEV, which was 12 months, is also extended by four months. Sorento and Sportage are Kia’s flagship SUV models, and saw significant increases in sales due to last year’s rising demand for cars for camping. In addition, the delivery date of Kia’s dedicated electric vehicle (EV) EV6 has also been delayed by two months from 13 months to 15 months. Meanwhile, the waiting periods of at least five other Kia models have been also extended. Hyundai Motor is in a similar situation. It now takes more than a year for its popular models to be delivered. Hyundai Motor’s model with the longest waiting period is its dedicated EV “Ionic 5.” The waiting period of Ioniq 5 is more than 12 months. The industry predicts that the supply of automotive chips will be normalized by the third quarter of this year. “The shortage of chips for ECU (electronic control unit) and AVN (audio, video, and navigation) for vehicles continues, and the recovery is not yet significant,” said Jung Yong-jin, an analyst at Shinhan Financial Investment. “The production is expected to be gradually normalized by improving the AVN chip supply chain and securing automotive chips in the third quarter.” Hyundai Motor also predicted in January that the part supply disruptions would continue in the first quarter of this year, but it is expected to be gradually improved starting in the second quarter and normalized in the third quarter of the year. | 