Lack of chips, thousands of brand new Mercedes-Benz cars ‘buried’ at the airport

Thousands of new cars are lying dormant at the abandoned airport – Photo: Autoevolution

Recently updated Google Maps photos show thousands of cars parked on a large runway that was once used for aircraft takeoff/landing.

That is a photo of Ahlhorn Airport (Germany), which is used to store unfinished Mercedes-Benz cars for sale.

But new images show that the airport seems to be getting more crowded, showing a large number of unfinished vehicles continuing to pour into the abandoned airport.

According to Autoevolution , the cause is that the chip shortage has returned. When the chip shortage crisis seems to have subsided, the image of Google Maps once again reveals old challenges.

The newer the car, the more chips it requires. Otherwise, the power folding mirrors, expensive sound system or driver assistance features will not work.

As such, buyers are forced to wait months to receive their vehicles, while companies like Mercedes-Benz have to spend extra money to transport defective cars from the Bremen Factory to Ahlhorn Airport. The total distance is 120km for both round trip and return.

Google Maps image shows Ahlhorn airport has become more crowded than before. This is a collection of unfinished Mercedes-Benz cars – Photo: Autoevolution

According to buten un binnnen , a spokesman for Mercedes-Benz said there was a global supply shortage for “some semiconductor components”, but they remained confident that this was only a temporary situation. The German automaker continues to introduce new models.

It’s not just the German automaker that has problems. Recently, France’s Renault also said that it was having problems with chip supply, to the point that a factory had to suspend operations. General Motors of the US insists chip shortages will continue beyond 2023.

In general, Mercedes-Benz is still operating normally and the current work has not been delayed. A union representative said production continued and predicted that the chip shortage crisis would end in 2023.

Ahlhorn Airport in 2018, before Mercedes-Benz decided to use it as a parking lot for its cars – Photo: Kreiszeitung

Some pictures of Ahlhorn Airport in 2019 – Photo: Bloomberg, Auto Bild

Only time can confirm whether the predictions of car manufacturers are accurate or not. Until then, automakers may struggle as major economies slow while production speeds up.

This can lead to a time when the economy moves from a state of shortage of inventory (oversupply) to heavy discounting/discounting to attract buyers (oversupply). Either state is not a healthy economy.