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IN THIS REPORT: How a global semiconductor shortage is smashing new car availability.  

When your local car dealer tells you it’ll be April (or even May) before he can supply that new car of your dreams … he’s probably not lying. That’s gotta be a first, for car dealers. (Using honesty.) Things are pretty grim on the showroom floor when they’re forced to deploy the truth. For a car dealer, that’s like fixing bayonets.   So, here’s the real reason why new cars are in such short supply right now.  At least a dozen major carmakers have been forced to wind back production because they just can’t get the right computer chips, which control virtually everything in a modern car, from the headlamps and the stability control, to the powertrain, steering and of course the infotainment and security systems.  Global lockdowns have been a real plus for the sales of laptops, TVs and gaming consoles - unsurprisingly. I mean, we’re all doing it from home these days, right?   Demand for computer chips has therefore surged, and carmakers just don’t wield much demand-based clout in this industrial niche.  Only about 10 per cent of semiconductor manufacturing capacity globally is devoted to automotive components - so this really is a battle between the David of carmakers versus the Goliath of consumer electronics giants, with carmakers not exactly in a position to exercise all that much leverage.