Hyundai faces production disruption from April due to chip shortage - FT

SEOUL (Reuters) - A widespread chip shortage affecting automakers is expected to disrupt production at South Korea's Hyundai Motor from April, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing a person with direct knowledge of the situation.

A Hyundai spokesperson told Reuters the company was aware of the auto industry's rising concerns over chip supplies, and that it was closely monitoring the situation to take necessary measures and optimise production in line with the supply conditions.

Hyundai shares were down 2.2% on Wednesday. The broader KOSPI was down 0.4%.

Hyundai had been able to avoid a hit from the shortage so far largely because it maintained a stockpile of chips unlike its global peers, Reuters reported last month.

The shortage has forced production cuts worldwide, including at Volkswagen and General Motors, prompting countries including Germany and the United States to ramp up efforts to resolve the situation.

Hyundai had been adjusting production of its weaker-selling models such as the Sonata to save chips, a union official told Reuters in February.

The official said this month that production had not abated for popular models such as the Palisade, the new Tucson and the Genesis GV, but the automaker has stopped overtime and weekend production for less-popular models.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Sayantani Ghosh; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Karishma Singh)