Why pickups, SUVs are getting prioritized over passenger cars as chip shortage continues

Michael Petrilla is a lifelong Chevrolet fan whose patience is being tested.

Petrilla, 65, has been waiting for his dream car — a blue 2021 Camaro SS 1LE with a manual transmission — to arrive at his home in New Jersey since he ordered it in April.

Petrilla, who plans to retire in 18 months, said the car is his retirement gift to himself. it was built months ago, yet it sits — along with hundreds of other Camaros — parked near a General Motors plant in Lansing, Michigan. The cars are awaiting the final semiconductor chips needed to complete their production.

It's been a long wait. The auto industry is in the midst of a global shortage of semiconductor chips used in cars. When GM and other carmakers do get the chips, they direct most of them to the in-demand and profitable vehicles — pickups and large SUVs, leaving some car buyers such as Petrilla exasperated.