AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/04 Report--

Two employees of Ford, the second largest US carmaker, have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in China and have improved, Reuters reported.

On the evening of March 4, Ford issued a statement: Ford China said there was a confirmed case among Ford Chinese employees at the beginning of the outbreak. The employee was diagnosed after returning to his hometown during the Spring Festival and was infected with the virus. The employee was immediately quarantined and treated. He has now recovered and is quarantined at a designated location. Another confirmed case from a related company is not a Ford employee and has now recovered.

In order to prevent employee mobility from increasing the risk of virus transmission and infection, Ford limited the travel of all employees to the necessary scope of business before March 27, in response to the spread of novel coronavirus. Ford said that even work that had to be done in person required specific separate approvals and confirmed that it did not cause "unacceptable health hazards".

In addition to Ford, an employee at a BMW plant in Munich, Germany, was diagnosed with novel coronavirus on March 2, and BMW ordered 150 employees who were in close contact with the employee to be quarantined at home for 14 days. At present, the offices of the R & D Department in Munich have been fully disinfected and the affected floors have been temporarily blocked. However, the building where the R & D department is located and other BMW departments will operate normally.

According to the data, a total of 80270 confirmed cases, 50043 cured and discharged cases and 2984 deaths have been reported in China. At present, the spread of the epidemic in China has been basically curbed, but signs of spread continue to appear outside China. As of March 4, there were more than 12000 confirmed cases outside China, of which South Korea, Italy and Iran were the worst.

The daily confirmed cases in China have been effectively controlled, and the upstream, middle and downstream industries of China's automobile industry have also resumed production one after another. although the impact of the epidemic on the automobile industry has been sustained in a short period of time, it has warmed up. In contrast, in other parts of the world, the number of confirmed cases is increasing, and if it is not effectively controlled, the impact of the automobile industry will become more and more serious. Prior to this, the Swiss government has cancelled the Geneva Motor Show, and the Beijing Auto Show has been postponed indefinitely.

Analysts say the New York auto show in April and the Detroit auto show in June are also likely to be affected. Exhibition organizers said today that the epidemic has not affected the New York Auto Show in New York in April and the Detroit Auto Show in Detroit in June, which will be held as scheduled. Although there is no cancellation plan, and no auto company has publicly stated its plan to cancel the auto show, the facts show that there is still a lot of uncertainty at the auto show.

In addition to the uncertainty of the auto show, there are also many uncertainties in the auto companies' new car plans. Due to the forced cancellation of the Geneva Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and other car companies have cancelled offline launches and released new cars in the form of online releases.

On March 3, the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class family and three new plug-in hybrid models made their global debut online, and BMW also launched the pure electric four-door sedan-BMW i4.

In addition, GM plans to launch a new electric Cadillac crossover in April and an electric Hummer in May, although the plan has not been cancelled, but GM said it "will closely monitor the situation. Health and safety are top priorities."

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