Subaru parks plans to make 58,000 cars due to brakes on silicon supply chain

Japanese auto-maker Subaru announced Monday that it is making “production adjustments” - aka making fewer cars - due to semiconductor supply chain issues.

The decision impacts the Yajima plant in Gunma Prefecture, which makes the Legacy sedan and Forester SUV. The factory was scheduled for a holiday break to commemorate Japan’s Golden Week on April 28. It will now stop production 13 working days early on 10 April. Production lines will resume on May 10, turning a two-week scheduled break into a month-long pause. Production at other plants is not affected. Subaru has previously continued to pay workers during unscheduled breaks in production, so staff may not have a horrible time of it during their extended breaks.

The Japanese automaker already cut its production plan for this fiscal year by around 48,000 vehicles due to the chip crisis. The newly scheduled break in production will subtract another 10,000 vehicles from showrooms.

“The impact on the Company’s consolidated financial performance is yet to be determined. We will make a further announcement if deemed necessary,” said Subaru in a canned statement [PDF].

Subaru joins a number of other car manufacturers that have cut production due to the global semiconductor drought.

Although Subaru hasn't named the exact components that are causing it trouble, the auto-maker's EyeSight semi-autonomous driving tech a big part of its sales pitch and appears in all but five of the company’s 42 models. The system uses cameras and other sensors to automatically slow vehicles if they appear destined for a rear-end accident, or leave a lane. ®