From high-tech to low-fi: Why the semi-conductor shortage could strip the high-end tech from your next new car

The semi-conductor shortage gripping the car world is wreaking havoc on Jaguar Land Rover’s plans in Australia, with the brand warning of the need to make “difficult decisions” about what vehicles they offer, and with what equipment.

The British powerhouse is hardly alone here, with brands from Subaru to Jeep, Ford to Mitsubishi, and just about everyone else facing prodcution issues as a result of the shortage. The result is that car companies across the globe - including JLR - are essentially winding back the clock when it comes to car technology, with the shortage forcing some brands to ditch the high-tech equipment for old-school analogue solutions in order to keep delivering cars.

There’s no doubt the shortage is impacting premium and high-end brands more than others, owing to the level of standard technology on board, and Jaguar Land Rover is no exception.

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As a result, the brand is in the process of making “difficult decisions” in order to keep up the flow of vehicles, which has already been severely impacted by productions shortages.

“Pretty much all of our cars carry a high level of technology, and therefore a a high content of semi-conductors,” says JLR MD Mark Cameron.

“We’ve got some pretty difficult decisions to make going forward. And inevitably we’re going to have to take some measures in Australia to limit the availability of some models or specification items in order to keep the ability to produce vehicles for this market, and to satisfy our customers.”

Forecasting the issues to spill into 2022, the brand says the solution is still a work in progress, but has flagged swapping our high-tech digital screens in the driver’s binnacle for old-school analogue dials — the latter of which require no semi-conductors. It is also quick to point out that vehicles currently en route to Australia will be delivered as per their normal specification.

“I can’t be specific, as we have-not yet decided,” Mr Cameron says. “But you would have seen some other manufacturers look at the full TFT dashboard versus analogue, or the technologies that carry a high density of chips, and the alternatives.

"We’ve got to make sure that we manage customers’ expectations, and if we’re making changes, then obviously we’ll hopefully be making some compensating feature additions, but this is very much a live piece of work.”