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Lack of car seat foam disrupted the global automotive industry

Automobile

CIO Bulletin
2021-03-09

Automotive industry across the world suffered due to pandemic that hit last year, post that the consecutive lockdowns troubled the production and supply chain of all petty and major manufacturing units that had to face negative impacts on automotive sales across the globe.

It took several months for the industry to recover from the loss. In the beginning of 2021, it was again hit by the global shortage of shortage of semiconductor chips that paused the production of automobiles. As this is not enough, due to winter storm that hit the southern state of Texas, USA will very soon see the dearth of foam used in car seats.

The winter storm led to closedown of many power stations which is the house to many oil refineries. Along with the fuel, the oil industry is also accountable for by-products and one of the by-products is propylene oxidewhich is used to make polyurethane foam which automakers use in the seats of their cars or two-wheelers.

It is believed that the automakers are keeping track of the crisis; some companies like BMW, Hyundai, Kia are not showing much concern and are saying that there is no immediate threat to production. It is speculated that GM’s global production could drop by more than 200,000 units in 2021.