When the auto manufacturing and supply chain ran like a perfectly oiled cog, before the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers could choose the make and model they wanted.
Now, with an unprecedented global car shortage, buyers are signing up for waiting lists and it may be months before they can get hold of them.
That shortage has led to a price hike on some new car models and sent used car prices skyrocketing.
Large companies are making fewer cars because there are not enough semiconductors on the market, an essential part of their production.
Added to that is the hunger for chips that technology companies have that manufacture everything from home appliances, computers and cell phones to video game consoles.
"The semiconductor industry is trying to catch up with demand, but it just can't," says Susan Golicic, a professor at the Colorado State University School of Business in the United States.
In the absence of chips, vehicle manufacturers have had to select which models are on the production line and which models are not, explains the expert.
"Many of the companies are only producing the vehicles that make the most money for them," such as sports utility cars (SUVs), trucks or luxury cars.
"The situation is quite serious."
Willy Shih, a professor at Harvard University Business School, tells BBC Mundo that the shortage affects the entire manufacturing chain in the automotive industry. That is, to all companies that manufacture parts.
"This has an effect on the employment generated by all the businesses associated with making a car. So the consequences have quickly spread."
In Japan, the country of brands such as Toyota and Nissan, the shortage of parts caused the sector's exports to drop 46% in September, compared to the previous year, a clear demonstration of the importance of the auto industry for its economy.
"It is estimated that automobile manufacturing generates about 3% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP)," says David Menachof, professor in the Department of Operations Management and Information Technology at the Florida Atlantic University School of Business. FAU).
The price of used and new cars goes up
"In the United States, cars are even being sold at higher values than the asking price because there are people willing to offer more than the normal price."
And with not enough new products available on the market, the demand for used vehicles has risen, raising the average cost of a second-hand car in the US to more than $ 25,000.
In fact, Susan Golicic points out, the average value of a vehicle has been rising by about $ 200 every month.
The same is happening in other parts of the world. Mexico, for example, is the world's fourth largest auto exporter and the seventh largest producer.
This country, which exports 80% of its production and has the leadership in the automotive industry in Latin America, is experiencing the effects of the global shortage in the manufacture of cars.
An additional factor has been added to the car shortage: the increase in the illegal entry of so-called "junk cars" from the US: vehicles in poor condition that do not find buyers in the world's largest economy, but they do have lawsuit across the border.
