Scott Keogh, CEO of Volkswagen of America, speaks during a Volkswagen press conference at the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S. November 28, 2018. REUTERS/Kyle Grillot/file photoAmericas chief sees the global chip shortage lasting into the third quarter of next year, but believes the auto industry will maintain the discipline that has led to strong vehicle pricing and corporate profits even when the flow of semiconductors returns to normal.
"When the market springs back, it's not going to hold obviously exactly the way it is," he said in an interview. "It will grow more competitive, but directionally the trend that started with the housing crisis, that carried through COVID and the chip shortage, will hold true.""There's probably no better industry at destroying margin value than the automotive industry," Keogh added. "They get into these price wars and everything goes to seed.
"Granted, one rogue actor can certainly throw a wrench into the machine," Keogh said. "Companies are looking at their factories and looking at their balance sheets and saying, 'We figured out a way to make it work'."