AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/03 Report--

As a result of the continued spread of novel coronavirus, there have been confirmed cases in at least 37 countries around the world, and World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the novel coronavirus epidemic as a global health emergency. With the impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic, the shortage of parts has caused serious damage to the supply chain of the global automobile industry.

Following the suspension of production by several automakers, a Honda spokesman said on Tuesday that the company had fine-tuned the production plans of its two plants in Saitama Prefecture because it was difficult to find parts during the novel coronavirus outbreak and the company would temporarily cut back on local production in Japan.

In addition, the parts delivery in China was delayed by the epidemic earlier, and Nissan once again fell into suspension of production. According to media reports, Nissan will temporarily suspend production at the Miyagawa-cho plant in Miyagawa-cho, Tochigi Prefecture, from March 3. And Toyota said last Wednesday that operations at its Japanese plants could be affected by supply chain problems.

In addition, the worst impact of the epidemic includes a number of car companies in South Korea, such as Hyundai, Kia and General Motors. South Korean operations have repeatedly said in February that they had to temporarily close factories due to supply chain shortages. Secondly, from the perspective of overseas novel coronavirus infection, South Korea has the largest number of people outside China.

It was previously reported that employees at Hyundai's plant in the southeastern South Korean city of Ulsan had tested positive for novel coronavirus. A spokesman for the Hyundai Automobile Union also confirmed that an employee had been detected to be infected with novel coronavirus. Hyundai Motor has immediately suspended production at the second plant in Ulsan, disinfected the interior of the plant, checked contacts and discussed countermeasures. However, with the rapid rise of confirmed cases in South Korea, the total number of confirmed cases in South Korea has reached 5186 as of today, with an increase of 851 cases today, which is much higher than that in China.

Under the dual influence of supply chain and employee infection, Hyundai's global monthly sales have hit an all-time low. According to its February sales data, Hyundai Motor Group sold 275044 vehicles, down 13% from 315820 in the same period last year. The performance is even worse than the one-month sales in February 2010. In addition, Kia Motor Company today announced global sales of passenger cars, recreational vehicles and commercial vehicles in February 2012. only 187844 vehicles were sold worldwide, down 5 per cent from the same period last year. Of this total, domestic sales in South Korea were 28681, down 13.7 per cent from a year earlier, while sales in markets outside South Korea were 159163, down 3.2 per cent from a year earlier.

The impact of supply chain shortages caused by the epidemic is not just Japan and South Korea, but Japan and South Korea have become the first overseas factories affected by parts shortages, and the impact of supply chain shortages has also spread to Europe. FCA confirmed last Thursday that it had obtained official permission from Italy to retrieve parts from a supplier in the north of the country related to truck production in a joint venture between FCA and the PSA group. It is worth noting that the FCA Group from Italy has also become one of the countries with the largest number of confirmed cases in this epidemic. As of today, the total number of confirmed cases is 2086, with an increase of 373 today.

In fact, in the face of supply chain shortage in China, many car companies are urgently looking for replacement suppliers of spare parts to ensure stable production capacity. There is a close relationship between the upstream and downstream of the automobile industry chain, as long as there is a shortage of parts, it will affect the production and sales of the whole vehicle. Therefore, at present, the epidemic begins to spread around the world, and many multinational car companies will be affected and disrupt the production rhythm of enterprises. Therefore, car production will be affected to a certain extent in the short term.

The outbreak of novel coronavirus reduced car demand and disrupted the car supply chain, leading Moody's Investor Service to sharply cut its global car sales forecast for 2020. The company now expects global car sales to fall 2.5 per cent in 2020, compared with a 0.9 per cent decline in previous forecasts. Moody's also pointed out that global car sales will fall to 88 million this year from 90.3 million last year.

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