Automakers including Volkswagen, BMW, and Porsche are struggling to obtain crucial wire harnesses as suppliers in western Ukraine have been shuttered by the Russian invasion, forcing production stops at car factories in Germany. A wire harness of today bundles up to 5 km of wire in the average car.
Leoni have two Ukrainian plants, in Stryi and Kolomyja. UkraineInvest, the Ukrainian government’s investment promotion office, says 22 automotive companies have invested more than $600m in 38 plants employing over 60,000 Ukrainians. Many, though not all, are producing wire harnesses. Those plants are close to car factories in Germany and the manufacturing hubs that international carmakers have built in central Europe. It could take months for suppliers to increase capacity at alternative locations in their networks—requiring factory space, machinery and tools, workers and financing. Delivery bottlenecks have already hit assembly plants of VW including their factory in Wolfsburg and their German EV plants; Porsche have suspended production at their Leipzig plant, and BMW have stopped production in Europe altogether.
