Cheap component could kill off combustion cars

Gasoline cars still account for the bulk of new car sales globally; electric vehicles (EVs) doubled to four million last year, but still only comprised 6% of vehicle sales, according to data from Jato Dynamics.

THE humble wire harness, a cheap component that bundles cables together, has become an unlikely scourge of the auto industry. Some predict it could hasten the downfall of combustion cars.

Supplies of the auto part were choked by the war in Ukraine, which is home to a significant chunk of the world’s production, with wire harnesses made there fitted in hundreds of thousands of new vehicles every year.