Since last year, the shortage of chips has affected the production and operation of the manufacturing industry. In particular, in the automotive industry, production capacity constraints and delivery constraints have had a real impact on many consumers. News such as shrinking discounts, rising terminal prices and prolonging the delivery cycle are often seen in the newspapers. Under the multiple pressures of sales volume, revenue and delivery deadline, some auto enterprises have come up with a new way to sell "futures", that is, first deliver the whole vehicle to consumers, and some chip scarce parts such as lidar and HUD head up display are empty first, and then return to the store for replenishment in the future. This way of "paying first and then making up" has also been ridiculed by netizens as "one-time payment and installment delivery". For this "helpless move" of car enterprises, some people in the industry hold a positive attitude, because ensuring vehicle delivery first can not only enable consumers to pick up the car as soon as possible, but also benefit the production and marketing order of car enterprises and ensure the more stable operation of car enterprises. However, some experts remind that the production consistency of subsequent installed parts can not be ignored, and the safety and compliance of secondary installed products must be ensured. "Get on the bus first and then make up the ticket" Recently, Tesla, the world's most topical auto enterprise, once again boarded the hot search list because of "reduction of configuration". Some Tesla overseas consumers reported that when collecting the car, they found that there was no USB interface in the central control and rear of the new car, only holes were reserved at the interface, and the mobile phone wireless charging function was also cancelled. In this regard, Tesla's official customer service responded that the above situation is indeed possible. The company plans to replenish the USB interface from December, but the impact of chip shortage has not been curbed, and the specific replenishment time cannot be 100% fulfilled. In view of this situation, some prospective Tesla owners in China said that the domestic situation is slightly better. There are both USB interface and wireless charging, but some functions are reduced. The USB type-C interface in the central armrest box of some models cancels the data transmission function and only has the charging function. In fact, the "reduced allocation delivery" was not initiated by Tesla. As early as may this year, BMW took the lead in announcing that due to the shortage of chips and other parts, the functions of Harman Caton high-end audio, mobile phone wireless charging, WiFi hotspot or digital key of some BMW models will be affected. Harman Caton audio has been suspended since May 24, and the configuration of mobile phone wireless charging, WiFi hotspot and digital key has been suspended since June 14. Followed by Audi, which said in July that due to the lack of production capacity of remote key chip, some domestic Audi models only provide one remote key and one mechanical key at the time of delivery. Audi promised to reissue the second remote control key after the production capacity is restored. Volkswagen's reduction is more simple and rough. Langyi and other models simply reduce the central control screen. Originally, the position of the central control screen was only a "black hole". Later, the dealer will install a third-party radio or large central control screen according to the vehicle configuration and the owner's needs. However, like many low configuration models before installing a third-party central control screen, the rear central control screen can not realize linkage with the relevant software and hardware of the original vehicle. According to the China Economic Weekly reporter, there are different degrees of reduction in general motors, Mercedes Benz, Nissan, Renault, modern, KIA and Peugeot. The functions include super cruise, AR navigation system, HUD display, navigation, digital dashboard, auxiliary production stop, intelligent rearview mirror, etc. Among them, some functions have been "permanently reduced", which has aroused strong dissatisfaction of consumers. Consumers have no choice but to "buy" Relatively speaking, the new forces of car making make it much easier for consumers to accept. In early October this year, the delivery communication scheme proposed by ideal automobile to users said that due to the epidemic, the shortage of millimeter wave radar chips affected the vehicle delivery. For the users originally scheduled to be delivered in October and November, the "3 radar models" with one front forward and two rear angle millimeter wave radars can be delivered first, and users can be replenished free of charge from December to next year's Spring Festival. Owners who choose this scheme can enjoy lifetime warranty and 10000 points (equivalent to RMB 1000). If this scheme is not selected, users will need to wait one to two months. They will not have the opportunity to mention the "5 radar full version" model until December. Users originally scheduled to deliver in December will not be affected. Since then, Xiaopeng automobile has also chosen this scheme with options for users, including replenishment and compensation. At the end of October, Xiaopeng automobile adopted the scheme of delivering the Xiaopeng P5 model to be delivered first and then loading the radar in batches. Prospective owners of Xiaopeng P5 who accept this scheme will receive xpilot software with a maximum value of 45000 yuan as compensation, otherwise they will continue to wait in line. If you don't want to choose "delivery first and then replenishment", and don't want to delay delivery, Xiaopeng automobile also provides some P5 users with a scheme to return and change orders. "What if you don't accept it? Buying a car is really just a need. If you don't accept it, you can only wait for it, for fear that the indicators will expire." many prospective car owners have no choice but to say on major auto forums. In this regard, many people in the industry also hold a positive attitude. Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the national passenger car market information joint committee, pointed out that at present, many car enterprises have launched some "reduced allocation" models to reduce their dependence on chips, reflecting their attitude of flexibly responding to market changes. Ensuring the delivery of vehicles first can not only enable consumers to mention vehicles as soon as possible, but also benefit the production and marketing order of vehicle enterprises and ensure the more stable operation of vehicle enterprises. Compared with the "long-term distribution reduction" scheme of traditional car enterprises, the method of delivery before replenishment adopted by ideal and Xiaopeng is easier to be accepted by consumers. However, some industry experts remind that the consistency of auto parts production can not be ignored. Zhang Xiang, a researcher at the automotive industry innovation research center of Northern University of technology, told China Economic Weekly that for auto enterprises, reduced distribution delivery is certainly better than no vehicle delivery. However, the secondary installation cost of the chip is high, because the chip is integrated in the control unit and can be installed in a dust-free environment. Only professional factories can complete this operation. If the 4S store directly replaces the control unit, how to recycle the old control unit will also be a problem. Chip shortage inflection point appears? In the first half of this year, industry insiders generally predicted that the shortage of auto chips started last year will be alleviated in the third quarter of this year. However, due to the intensification of the epidemic in Southeast Asia in the second and third quarters of this year, some countries implemented more stringent epidemic prevention measures, resulting in the intensification of the global shortage of automobile chips in the third quarter. Until the epidemic situation in Southeast Asia eased, the automotive electronics supply chain was gradually restored. According to the data released by Morgan Stanley, about 20% ~ 30% of the world's automobile and server chips need to be sealed and tested in Malaysia. After the epidemic was controlled, Malaysia has orderly resumed factory operations, and the average capacity utilization rate of wafer plant equipment suppliers has recovered from 51% to nearly 90%. According to Cui Dongshu, novel coronavirus pneumonia has been gradually controlled in the near future, and the production and wholesale of passenger car market have been improved. However, there are many kinds and large quantities of chips needed by cars. Without any key chip, cars can not be produced normally. Although the most serious impact of chip shortage has passed, it is still a long way from being completely solved. Chen Shihua, Deputy Secretary General of China Automobile Association, also publicly said recently that although the chip supply has eased compared with the third quarter, there is still an obvious shortage of individual chips, and this shortage situation will continue for some time. According to JPMorgan Chase, with more production capacity online, the chip supply may be fundamentally improved in the second half of 2022. It is expected that there will be no shortage of semiconductor supply by 2023. (Xinhua News Agency)