NEW DELHI: India's biggest car maker Maruti Suzuki warned on Tuesday its vehicle production in September will tumble by 60% due to a chip shortage, joining a slew of global automakers facing a pandemic-led paucity of critical components.

Maruti had flagged a partial production impact in August, but the output cut in its plants in the states of Haryana and Gujarat for September shows the problem is intensifying for Japanese automaker Suzuki Ltd's flagship arm. Total production volume in September across the two plants could be around 40% of normal output, Maruti said in a regulatory filing.

The company produced 170,719 cars in July and 165,576 in June. Automakers have become increasingly dependent on chips - for computer management of engines, for better fuel economy and driver-assistance features such as emergency braking.

But supply chain disruptions during the pandemic have spiked the demand for chips used in electronics like computers as people worked from home and hit output at automakers. Faced with the shortage, many automakers have focused on manufacturing high margin models and also raised prices.