Jalopnik: “The car shortage is about to get a whole lot worse”

[John VonJeep]

If you’ve been thinking about ordering a Wrangler, now might be a good time to pull that trigger.

https://jalopnik.com/the-car-shortage-is-about-to-get-a-whole-lot-worse-1847892481

Essentially, you can’t make cars without aluminum. You can’t work with aluminum without using magnesium. And as of December, you may not be able to work with magnesium much — if at all. Amos Fletcher, analyst for Barclays, put it succinctly: “If magnesium supply stops, the entire auto industry will potentially be forced to stop.”​

Sponsored

 

[Garemlin]

Jalopnik is the worst. Take anything you read there with many grains of salt.

 

[Beasty]

The US is the top supplier of magnesium so if anything, we would be fine, the rest of the world maybe not

 

[Beasty]

We may supply the stuff but do we consume it raw? I think we are a big supplier but who makes stuff with it and will they sell there product to only us?

There are plenty of factories here that use it. I think the article was more directed towards the European market because China is also a large supplier of magnesium.

 

[RedundanT]

Jalopnik is the worst. Take anything you read there with many grains of salt.

Bunch of woke kids that couldn't set the gap on a points distributor to save their worthless soul. Quit reading that site a long time ago.

 

[HungryHound]

No wonder mag wheels are hard to find.

 

[Badfish]

The US is the top supplier of magnesium so if anything, we would be fine, the rest of the world maybe not

I'm sure there's several idle mines out there that would become active once the price per increases for the mining companies.

 

[Deleted member 59098]

Bunch of woke kids that couldn't set the gap on a points distributor to save their worthless soul. Quit reading that site a long time ago.

I kind of like the content from the dude with the manual ZJ fetish. There’s some fun YouTube stuff too.

 

[csjlu]

Jalopnik is the worst. Take anything you read there with many grains of salt.

Jalopnik is not saying it, an industry strategist at Barclays is. China is 86% of global magnesium supply and can massively impact global supply chains regardless of whether a liked/disliked automotive blog mentions it. Force majeure has already been declared by one major North American aluminum producer for 2022 production volumes as a result of this. Force majeure is a French term that loosely translates to "What are you waiting for? Order your friggin Wrangler already."

Barely mentioned in the article is the electricity rationing in China. They've already exceeded their full year coal burning quota for 2021, and have trimmed electricity supply to industry in an attempt to heat homes during winter and clean up its air quality before the 2022 Winter Olympics returns. Aluminum is essentially electricity in solid form, so supply tightness well into 2022 is the probable after effect.

 

[Shiner]

Jalopnik is not saying it, an industry strategist at Barclays is. China is 86% of global magnesium supply and can massively impact global supply chains regardless of whether a liked/disliked automotive blog mentions it. Force majeure has already been declared by one major North American aluminum producer for 2022 production volumes as a result of this. Force majeure is a French term that loosely translates to "What are you waiting for? Order your friggin Wrangler already."

Barely mentioned in the article is the electricity rationing in China. They exceeded their coal burning quota in 2021, and have trimmed electricity supply in an attempt to warm homes and clean up its air quality before the 2022 Winter Olympics returns. Aluminum is essentially electricity in solid form. Expect aluminum supply tightness well into 2022.

That's not exactly what force majeure translates to.... More like "we know we're contractually obligated to provide this product.... however....... you'll get it when you get it... when we get around to it.. IF you get it at all".

 

[Badfish]

The only magnesium producer in the U.S. just went thru a government law suit about the environment. I don't see a quick mine opening happening any time soon.

I was referring to global mining operations and claims. I can only imagine the US has more stringent regulations and its more expensive to mine here.
This doesn't take away that there is a shortage, just simply that once the price becomes attractive you'll see output begin to increase with mining operations that have a price point to be profitable.

 

[entropy]

Jalopnik is the worst. Take anything you read there with many grains of salt.

You think Kosher would work? would you recommend diamond or morton?

 

[The Last Cowboy]

We have regulated ourselves out of business in the US. And fines for those violations are crippling, along with OSHA violations. They are constantly changing the latest standard, usually by meaningless fractions, and levying fines on that.

These issues, along with the carbon credit craziness, are why so many companies have moved manufacturing overseas. Labor was only a small part of it.

Now here we are, begging for products and materials, when can can damn sure produce them ourselves. But the bureaucracies need to ease up to to let it happen. Safety and environmental standards from 5-10, even 20 years ago where only slightly less effective than those of today.

Not so green companies having to buy carbon credits from "green" companies is another stumbling block. Tesla doesn't have to build one car to be profitable as long as those carbon credits are in demand. Having to purchase those credits drives the price of our Jeeps, among many other items, up.

https://www.autoweek.com/news/green...-money-selling-credits-and-bitcoin-than-cars/

 

[K9Jeeper]

All this back and forth about magnesium, like that’s the backing to a true or untrue of this article… I’m going with true and still not grasping the totality of the hardships ahead. Not only for the auto industry, but for many other industries. 2020/2021 are literally like that small wave that surprises you before the massive tidal wave comes crashing down. Sorry if you don’t agree, but if you’ve got any grasp on reality, you’ll piece the pie together as well. And trust me, I’d LOVE to be wrong about this, but I’m certainly not counting on that

 

[Frostbyte]

Cool! Does that mean we'll start making cars the old fashioned way....with REAL U.S. STEEL?

Sponsored