THE WHITE HOUSE — The President of the United States told the Guardian on Thursday he was aware of semi trucks sitting at the Ross County fairgrounds.
The trucks, manufactured by the local PACCAR factory for Kenworth sit idly by in a field. They are parked there because they lack microchips needed to make them road-ready.
PACCAR’s first quarter 2021 truck deliveries were estimated at approximately 42,000 vehicles, compared to 40,800 vehicles delivered in the fourth quarter of 2020. PACCAR said the trucks, numbering in the hundreds, will sit parked until the parts become available. In the meantime, trucks will continue to be built.
“We’ve been able to build trucks all the way through the process and then stage them for those parts,” Kenworth General Manager Kevin Baney told FreightWaves.
President Joe Biden told the Guardian’s Editor-in-Chief, Derek Myers, on Thursday at the White House that he is aware of the issue, created by a semiconductor shortage.
“I know they are [sitting in lots]. That’s why we are going to invest billions into bringing chip manufacturing to the United States,” the President said. “This is a gigantic, gigantic issue.”
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The semiconductor shortage was spurred by chip manufacturers who pivoted toward consumer electronics during the worst of the pandemic as truck and auto sales swooned.
The President, on Thursday, signed an executive order to commit 50% of automobile sales to being electric in the next few years. He was accompanied by auto manufacturing CEOs, including Ford’s Jim Farley.
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